
Author of 

The New Progressive Geographies 

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Homes Among the Almond Groves of California 



FAIRBANKS' 

NEW PROGRESSIVE GEOGRAPHIES 

DEVELOPED ACCORDING TO THE PROBLEM METHOD 



THE HOME 



AND ITS 



RELATION TO THE WORLD 



BY 



HAROLD W. FAIRBANKS 

Author of 

California, Topical Outlines of Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia 

and the Islands of the Pacific, "Stories of Our Mother Earth." Rocks and Minerals, 

Home Geography, Practical Physiography, Conservation Reader, 

Western United States 



COPYRIGHTED 1921 BY H. W. FAIRBANKS 



HARR WAGNER PUBLISHING COMPANY 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 
1921 



The Home and Its Relation to the 

World 

PREFACE 

The purpose of the present little book, the first of a series of 
elementary school geographies, is two-fold. It undertakes in the first 
place to familiarize the child with his environment and to show how 
his life is affected by it. In the second place it takes him over the 
World, not a world made up of facts to be memorized, but one filled 
with strange and interesting people with whom he has more or 
less to do. 

It is not the purpose of the book to teach California but rather 
the home in California, and its relation to other homes scattered over 
the wide world. As a result of this method the Home is oriented 
and the pupil led to acquire those simple but fundamental ideas ab- 
solutely essential to the real grasp of advanced geography. 

The first and second books of the New Progressive Geographies 
emphasize Home Geography because, in the author's opinion, this 
is the only approach to World Geography which can give the de- 
sired results — results so generally lacking with the methods in cur- 
rent use. 

The California child who devotes the fourth and fifth years of 
school to the home environment and its relation to homes in other 
lands is equipped as no other child can be, who has never had this 
intensive home study, to make rapid and intelligent progress in 
World Geography. 

The teacher must bear in mind that as the book is planned for 
use in any part of California local conditions cannot be emphasized 
as they ought. Each environment has illustrative material of its 
own which, following the plan of the book, the teacher should use 
to the fullest extent possible. By this means, and by making addi- 
tional journeys among people of other lands — journeys developed 
along the same lines as those worked out in the book — the teacher 
will have within her grasp material for a full year's course. 

The teacher is urged to give the children out-door lessons in 
connection with the beginning of map study because of the extreme 
importance of being able to visualize map symbols. If out-door les- 
sons are not possible a sand table or similar device should be em- 
ployed. 

Mercator maps should not be used in beginning World study, 
but in their place either a globe or a map of the hemispheres. A 
relief map or model of California, such as the *Drake model which 
can now be obtained at a reasonable price, is essential to the fullest 
success of the method employed. Political maps should be avoided. 

MVl \*^OCW611098 



CONTENTS 



Preface 

Homes - 7 

Homes in California 10 

Situation of homes depends upon the kind of work carried on.... 12 

Water rules our lives 19 

A part of our California home is wet and a part dry 26 

Effect of the rains. 30 

What is a desert? 32 

Importance of the sun 33 

Soil, its formation and uses 35 

A day on the seashore 38 

A river, its work and uses 42 

A journey through the mountains 46 

Country homes and people 51 

City people and their homes 54 

Supplies for the city 56 

The city was once a village 59 

Influences which made the city 62 

How to tell direction 63 

What is a map? 66 

A relief map or model 67 

What a model shows 71 

Maps tell about different places 73 

Beginning the study of California from a model 76 

How the model helps to tell climate 79 

The map of California 80 

Homes in different parts of California.. 82 

How people reach their homes 84 

Roads and railroads 85 

Why we depend so little upon people of other countries 90 

Why we grow such a variety of fruits in California 91 

Products of other countries and what they teach 95 

The world is very large 96 

How knowing our home helps us to understand the world. 97 

Shape of the earth 110 

Movements of the earth 110 

The sun and climate Ill 



Climate influenced by other thing's than the sun 113 

What our journeys over the world teaches 114 

Advantages of California for trading with other countries 119 

Why most of the foreign trade is carried on through San 

Francisco.. 120 

Routes by which we can reach England 121 

Home of the coconut 124 

Where olive oil comes from 126 

A ship from India '. 130 

Where rubber and coffee come from _ 136 

What Turkey sends us 140 

Home of the date 145 

Switzerland 150 

Where red cheeses come from 155 

A cargo from China 157 

The Japanese at home 162 

Products of the Hawaiian Islands... 165 

Products of far northern regions 166 

Trade with the Philippine Islands 169 

Why Africa sends us so little of her products 174 

Where are the products of Norway and Sweden.. 175 

What does Australia ship us? 178 

Mexican products 180 

Russia sends us very little 182 

Why with each passing year we depend less upon the products 

of other lands 184 



ARGUMENT 

FOR 

The Home and Its Relation to the World 

BY 
Dr. H. W. Fairbanks 

The following plan of a new series of school geographies has been 
worked out as a result of the conviction on the part of the author that the 
subject of school geography needs remodeling along new and wholly differ- 
ent lines and that none of the present text-books meet the demand of this 
more modern and rational view of the subject. 

The proposed geographies differ from those now in use in three impor- 
tant particulars, namely: — in method, in distribution of emphasis, and in the 
handling of the map question. 

1. Method. — The current texts are based in great part on the idea that 
geography is a study of facts about the earth. These books are filled with 
an almost innumerable number of facts which according to the method 
usually followed are acquired through memorizing with little inquiry into 
the matter as to whether these facts are really understood. • 

In the New Series an attempt is made to practically do away with the 
memorizing of facts as facts. The vast amount of detail found in all the 
current texts is dispensed with. The thinking powers of the pupils are 
aroused through the development of the causal relationship which exists 
among facts, and which relationship' alone leads to true geographic knowl- 
edge. 

One of the primary objects in the method of presentation employed in 
the new texts is to develop the interest of the pupils through the use of 
"problems." By this means the otherwise dead facts are clothed with life. 

The method of presenting all facts in the light of their natural associa- 
tions and from the point of view of their influence upon life might be called 
the "biological method." It not only makes the subject matter of the geog- 
raphy seem worth while to the pupils, a very important thing in itself, but it 
brings out clearly the scope and bounds of geography, a notion which is 
lacking in the current texts as well as actual school-room practice. 

In the biological method of approach all materials are presented from 
the standpoint of their relation to the earth as a living organism. A moun- 
tain, for example, is not studied merely as a physical feature of the earth 
but from the point of view of its relation to the people who live at its base. 
Every fact that has any vital relation to elementary school geography is 
thus made significant. 

The two-time-over plan in current use is discarded as it is believed to 
be wasteful of time and effort and not to lead to the best results. A 
progressive course is substituted for the present one and in this course the 
world is gone over in a formal manner but once. The objection sometimes 
raised to this plan that some children may leave school before the con- 
tinents have all been studied is met by the statement that in the latter half 
of the fourth year there is a general survey of the world, and that it is 
of far greater importance that such children should have a working knowl- 
edge of their home, state and native land than that this should have been 
neglected and their time spent in memorizing meaningless facts about distant 
lands. 

2. Distribution of emphasis: — To make geographical relations in distant 
lands really intelligible the new plan not only emphasizes home geography, 
but goes much farther and assumes that an understanding of the home is 
the indispensable pre-requisite to a real knowledge of the world. It is only 



when the pupils have gained a working knowledge of the relation between 
the people about them and their environment that they are able to under- 
stand the environments of peoples in distant lands. 

The extended study of the home called for by the plan of the New 
Series results in remarkably rapid and intelligent progress when the pupils 
reach the study of distant lands. The knowledge gained of life relations in 
the home is carried directly over to the new land, no matter in what part 
of the world it is situated. When a good map is furnished the pupils they 
are able to reason out conclusions as to life conditions wherever life is 
studied. 

3. The problem of map study: — The New Series of Geographies is to 
be illustrated with half tones and colored plates but maps are to be excluded 
from the text-books and bound in a separate volume or Atlas. This has 
long been the established custom in the leading foreign countries, and is 
likely soon to be the rule in the United States. One of the most serious 
defects of the current geographical texts is not only the small size of the 
maps but their usually poor character. 

The advantages of an atlas might be stated as follows: — 

1. The maps can be printed on a scale large enough to make 
them clear and comprehensible. 

2. The atlas can more easily be preserved as a handy book of 
reference when not encumbered with the text. 

3. The text can be bound in a more conveniently sized volume 
than when an attempt is made to adapt it to the needs of maps. 

4. An atlas bound in one or two parts could be made to last 
for the whole school course. 

The New Geographies can be divided conveniently into four volumes 
as follows: 

Vol. I. Fourth Grade: — An elementary text in Home Geography which 
includes in the latter half a discussion of the peoples of other parts of the 
world through the interchange of products between them and the people of 
the California home. This introductory work is made as real as possible 
through the use of pictures and the globe or map of the hemispheres. 

Vol. II. Fifth Grade: — California and other parts of our country as they 
are related to California. A good wall map or relief model a necessity. (A 
small atlas of California is to be prepared to accompany this Volume.) 

Vol. III. Sixth Grade: — North America with emphasis laid upon the 
United States. Physical wall maps a necessity. 

Vol. IV. Seventh and Eighth Grades: — The remaining portions of the 
world taken up in that order which brings the most important regions early 
in the course. North America is naturally followed by South America, 
Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. 

The Geography of Current Events should be introduced periodically 
throughout the course. 

It is not at all essential that Europe be taught in the Sixth Grade to 
meet the needs of Sixth Grade history. All the geography which is needed 
for the history can better be given as a part of the history. 

The author has employed the historical development of the different 
lands as a motive through the series but this does not imply that geography 
should be made subservient to history as is often done. 



WHAT DO WE MEAN BY HOME? 

The place where we live with those we love most is home. 
In our homes we find shelter from cold and wet. There we 
get our food and clothing. There are our playthings and 
everything else that we own. 

But the home that we are going to learn about in our 
geography is larger than the house in which we live. This 
home takes in the country around us and all the things with 
which it is filled. In this home are hills and valleys,, water, 
air, birds, animals and plants. Here also are many people 
living in different ways and doing different kinds of things. 

How far over the hills and valleys does this home land 
extend? We might think of home as being only the valley 
in which we live, or we might think of it as our country or 
even the whole earth. In this little book we are going to learn 
first about our California home and then about our larger 
world home and the many peoples that it holds. 

HOME IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PLACE IN THE WORLD. 

The first thing we want to learn about is the little 
world close around us, then the larger world of California, 
and finally the great round world. It will be worth much to 
us to know what kind of a home we have, what the people 
about us do and how they live. After learning what we can 
about our own home we shall then find out what we can about 
the homes of other people and the far away lands in which 
they live. 

The land, the water, the sun, the wind and storms make 
our home what it is. These things also determine the kind 
of work that people do. To know our home will enable us 
to live better and happier and will also help us to understand 
the homes and lands of other people. 

THE LAND EXTENDS AWAY FROM HOME IN EVERY 
DIRECTION. 

The place in which we live seems to us the centre of the 
world. Whichever way we look the earth appears to stretch 
away to the horizon. Each of our homes is in the centre of 
its own little world. The little worlds about the different 
homes in our land and in other lands all taken together make 
up the great world. 



8 New Progressive Geographies 

THE WORLD MUST BE VERY LARGE. 

1. What a mountain top shows us: From a hill we can 
see more of the country than we can from our home in the 
valley. From a mountain top our view reaches still far- 
ther. Thus we discover that the little world in which our 
home lies is only a part of a very large world. Our California 
home of which we are going to learn is much larger than that 
which we can see from the highest mountain. It is so large 
that it takes an express train more than a whole day of twenty- 
four hours to go from one end to the other. 

. 2. Beyond California are other lands: California is but a 
small part of our great country — the United States. Our 
country is only one of many countries which, together with 
water, make up the surface of the earth. The earth is so 
large that it takes months of constant traveling to reach the 
more distant of these countries. 

THE WORLD IS THE HOME OF MANY KINDS OF LIV- 
ING THINGS. 

1. Plants cannot choose their homes: Wherever the seeds 
fall and sprout there the young plants must make their homes. 
They cannot go in search of food. If the soil is poor and there 
is little water and sunshine they can do nothing to help them- 
selves but must get along as best they can. 

2. Animals make their homes where they please: Animals 
do not have to stay in one place. They can wander here and 
there and make their homes where they find life the most com- 
fortable. If there is not enough to eat in one place they go 
to another. When winter comes they either make a warm 
snug nest or travel far southward. 

3. People have permanent homes: Long ago men were 
much like the animals. They too had to go from place to 
place in search of food. Now it is very different. We have 
learned so much about Nature that we no longer have to move 
about to obtain food or escape cold. We have harnessed wind, 
water and electricity and make them work for us. Cultivated 
fields, orchards and gardens supply us with food from one 
summer to another. Where it is cold we build comfortable 
homes and keep fires burning in them. Where it is very hot 
we make ice to help us endure the heat. We carry food to 
places where nothing will grow and in this way we are able to 
live where other animals would die of cold, heat or hunger. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 9 

OUR HOMES ARE OF MANY DIFFERENT KINDS. 

It makes no difference what sort of a place we live in 
that place is home. It may be only a tent or it may be a cave 
in the hillside. Most of our homes are made of sawed lumber 
because this is usually easy to get and easy to shape in the 
form which we wish. In some parts of our California home 
where there are trees but no sawmills we find homes made 
of logs and roofed with bark. Where wood is scarce and 
clay is plentiful homes are made of adobe mixed with straw 
and dried in the sun. Stronger and more permanent homes 
are made of clay bricks baked in a kiln until they are very 
hard. Where stone is easily obtained homes and even large 
business buildings are made of that material. 

OUR HOMES ARE IN MANY SORTS OF PLACES. 

Some of us live in valleys. Others live among mountains 
or on the coast. The land around some valley homes is almost 
as level as a floor and grows rich crops. Where others live 
the slopes are so steep and rocky that the trees can hardly 




From the Hill-Top a rich and beautiful valley lies spread out before us. 
Beyond it are mountains white with snow. 



10 



New Progressive Geographies 



find a place for their roots. It rains so much in some places 
that children carry their umbrellas to school most of the time. 
In other places the sun shines out of a bright sky nearly 
every day in the year. But wherever we go we find that 
every one likes his own home place the best. 

WE WOULD NOT ALL CHOOSE THE SAME SORT OF A 
PLACE FOR A HOME. 

How fortunate it is that we do not all like to have the 
same sort of a place for a home. If we did there would be 
great lands where we could travel for days and find nobody. 
There would be other lands where people would be crowded 
together so thickly that they could hardly live. Perhaps you 
like a home where it is warm all the year and where little rain 
falls. I like a home where the winter cold brings the won- 
derful snow. And so we find homes all over the earth in all 
kinds of places. 

CALIFORNIA OFFERS EVERY SORT OF A HOME THAT 
ONE COULD WISH. 

1. Some of us have homes upon the coast: Upon one side 
is the blue ocean; on the other side are hills and mountains. 
Can you imagine any pleasanter place for a home than the 




The fisherman must make his home close to the water where he can look 

after his boats. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



11 



strip of fertile land between the mountains and the ocean. The 
winds almost always blow off the cool water and so it seldom 
gets very hot. Sometimes we can hardly tell whether it is 
winter or summer. We often wish that there was not so 
much fog in the summer and that we might have more sun- 
shine. But we must not forget that the fog is of great value 
for without it some of our important crops could not be grown. 

2. There are many homes in the valleys behind the mountains : 
We must not think that it is foggy every where in the summer. 
If you will climb the mountains back of your coast home you 
will be able to see warm bright valleys lying beyond them 
where there is little fog. The fog comes from the ocean and 
sometimes creeps over the low places in the mountains but 
the water particles forming it soon disappear in the warm 
dry air. 

The summer days are very warm in these valleys lying 
behind the mountains. The plants which need the cool moist 
fog do not grow there but instead there are others that cannot 
stand the coast air. Less rain falls behind the mountains than 
upon the side facing the ocean and so the earth dries out more 




This is the sort of a valley the dairyman loves. The sleek cows show that 
there is w^ter and grass in abundance. 



12 New Progressive Geographies 

quickly. In order to keep their gardens growing the people 
have to irrigate them from some near-by stream. 

3. Far behind the mountains there are few homes: If you 
should journey many miles, beyond these warm and fertile 
valleys, and across other mountains that lie far to the east- 
ward you would come to a part of California where there is 
so little rain that scarcely anything will grow. The country 
looks like a desert. It is so hot in summer that one can scarcely 
endure it. In the winter there are cold piercing winds. Peo- 
ple live in this dry land because there is work to be done there. 
The water that they need is either brought many miles in pipes 
or hauled upon wagons or cars. The food that they need is 
supplied from other more fertile valleys. 

4. There are many homes in the wild mountains: How we 
enjoy our mountain home. There are dense forests, lofty 
cliffs and noisy streams. In summer it is very pleasant living 
out under the trees. In winter there is coasting on the snow. 
In the very high mountains it is too cold for gardens to grow, 
and so the people living there have to go to the warmer valleys 
for their supplies. 

WE MUST MAKE OUR HOMES WHERE OUR WORK 
CALLS US. 

1. One who is engaged in trade must make his home near 
other people: In order to be a successful merchant one must 
live where there are people with whom he can trade. A store 
could carry on little business in the country far from the 
homes of people. A merchant usually, then, makes his home 
in a town or city where his store can be easily reached. City 
people depend upon the stores for everything they need. Coun- 
try people have less need of a store for they raise a large 
part of their supplies. In order to obtain clothing and other 
necessities people living far away in the country usually have 
the large city stores send them goods by mail or express, 
instead of going to the store. 

2. People wishing to engage in manufacturing must make 
their homes where such work can be carried on: To be successful 
in manufacturing many things are necessary and these are to 
be had only in certain places. There must be either water 
power, fuel or electricity to run machinery. There must also 
be rivers or canals or railroads to bring the raw materials and 
carry away the articles which are manufactured. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



13 



Great mills or factories call for many workmen. These 
workmen need homes and in the homes many kinds of articles 
are required. Thus a village or city with all sorts of industries 
grows up around any place where manufacturing is carried on. 

3. If one wishes to be a miner he must live where minerals 
are found: The minerals which the miner seeks are usually 
found in the solid rocks. In the valleys deep soil hides the 
rocks so that we cannot easily get at them but in the hills and 
mountains there is little soil and the rocks appear upon every 
hand. For this reason the miner lives in the mountains. The 
slopes are often so steep and rocky that he can reach his home 
only over rough and dangerous trails. 

4. The lumbermen must make their homes in the forests : 
The forests of our California home are usually found in the 
mountains because the valleys are too dry. The lumbermen 
then, as well as the miners, have to make their homes in the 
mountains. The mills that cut the logs into lumber are some- 
times built in the forests. In such cases the lumber is floated 
down to the valleys in flumes. When the mills are built in the 




The miner must make his home in the mountains. The mill is built over 
the entrance to the mine. 



14 



New Progressive Geographies 



valleys the logs are brought upon railroads made for the 
purpose. 

5. The stockman makes his home in the rough hilly country: 
Because rich and well-watered valley land is too valuable for 
pasturing beef cattle the stockman usually takes his herds to 
the hills and mountains. Steep and rocky slopes are not suited 
to farming but support a growth of grass and bushes upon 
which cattle can feed. In the remote parts of our state you 
will find large herds of cattle and sheep and bands of horses. 
The homes of the stockmen are far apart because range cattle 
have to wander far and wide in their search for food. 

6. The dairyman has a choice of different places for a home: 
The dairyman who wishes to sell milk must live as near as 
possible to some city where customers can be found. The 
dairyman who makes butter may have his home near the coast 
where the cool air and green grass are favorable. Or, he may 
go to a mountain valley for here the nights are cool and the 
grass is green all summer. Many of the great valleys now 




The sheep herder pastures his flocks where the land is not suited to farming. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



15 



offer good opportunities for the dairyman if he can get ice 
to keep his butter cool for there is an abundance of alfalfa. 

7. The grain farmers live in the larger valleys : The grain 
farmer, like the stockman, must have a large piece of land. 
This land should lie in a valley or upon gentle hill slopes so 
that machinery can be used for plowing, sowing and harvest- 
ing. It does not pay to raise grain in rough country where 
only small patches of land can be sowed and harvested. In a 
valley given over to raising grain the homes are far apart and 
without the comforts that come from small pieces of land care- 
fully cultivated. 

8. The home of the sugar beet and bean farmer: If one pre- 
fers to grow beans and sugar beets he will seek some place 
where the soil is deep and rich and the climate is not too hot 
as in the valleys near the ocean. In such valleys the damp 
fogs bring life to the little bean and beet plants. 

9. The grower of temperate fruits may live either in a valley 
or among the hills : Many kinds of temperate fruits thrive in 
the warm valleys. Among these are peaches, apricots and 
grapes. Others such as pears, prunes and grapes like the hill 
slopes, while apples do best on the mountains where it is cold 




This is a beautiful valley dotted with oaks where a grain farmer has made 

his home. 



16 New Progressive Geographies 

in winter. Thus the fruit grower may make his home in a 
variety of places, the spot that he chooses depending upon the 
sort of fruit he wishes to grow. 

10. If you would grow sub-tropical fruits you must make your 
home where it is hot in summer and mild in winter: We cannot 
grow sweet oranges near the ocean where the cool fog winds 
blow. We cannot grow them in the mountains where the win- 
ters are cold. We must seek some warm lowland valley not 
only for oranges but also for lemons, figs, olives and raisin 
grapes. We must be careful, however, not to set out orchards 
in the very lowest parts of the valley for such places -are more 
frosty than the slopes upon the sides of the valley. 

11. The date grower must make his home in the hottest valley 
of California : In the far southeastern corner of California is a 
broad valley once known as the Colorado Desert. This was 
for many years the dread of every one who had to cross it. 
A great canal now carries water to this valley from the Colo- 
rado River and thousands of people make their homes there. 
Among the many products of this almost tropical region that 
make it known far and wide are cantaloupes and dates. The 
cantaloupe thrives in other hot valleys of our California home 
but the date is found to do best here. Sprouts and seeds of 
the date palm were brought from a similar desert country far 
away across the ocean. They found in this valley a home 
which they liked and now are supplying us with the very best 
of dates. 

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO MAKE HOMES IN SOME 
PARTS OF CALIFORNIA? 

1. In the desert there is too little water: The desert is a 
wonderful land. In its mountains there are gold, silver and 
copper. In the bottom of the valleys where there were once 
lakes, there are beds of soda, salt and borax. Upon the slopes 
of the valleys there is good soil. The one thing that Mother 
Nature failed to give the desert is enough water so that people 
could make homes there. 

Once people dreaded the journey across the deserts be- 
cause of the heat and the danger of dying of thirst. Although 
we cannot lessen the heat of the summer sun yet we have been 
able to obtain water in wells in some of the deserts, while we 
have brought water to others in canals and have turned much 
of the barren land into fruitful gardens. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



17 



2. Some lowlands are too wet: How many children have 
heard of the vast lowland in the heart of California where 
two large rivers meet and flow down to San Francisco Bay? 
For thousands of years the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers 

have been bring- 
ing down mud and 
dropping it at their 
mouths until they 
have finally made a 
marshy plain which 
extends almost as 
far as the eye can 
reach. The surface 
has a deep rich soil 
which supports a 
forest of tules, but 
during the spring 
floods much of it 
was once covered 
with water, form- 
ing a vast lake. No 
one could make his 
home in this region 
until dikes or em- 
bankments of earth 
mere made to shut 
out the floods. Now 
many people live 
here and raise fine 
crops of potatoes, 
onions, beans and 
asparagus. 




To grow such sweet dates as these one must live in 
a valley where there is plenty of water for 
the roots of the palm and the sum- 
mer heat is intense. 



3. It is difficult to make homes in the forests: Most people 
who live in the country depend upon the soil for a living. 
Unless you were a lumberman or a miner you would not go 
into the forest to make a home ; the trees would have to be 
cut down and the stumps pulled out before you could raise 
anything. This is one of the reasons that few people live upon 
the forested mountain slopes. 



18 



New Progressive Geographies 



4. In some parts it is very cold: Why do we find so few 
people living upon the high mountains? The high mountain 
slopes are very cold in winter and there are frosts almost every 
night in summer. Because of the cold nothing can be raised 
there. The miner is the only inhabitant of this region and 
he has to bring all his food over rough trails from the valleys 
far below. 

5. In some valleys the soil is not suited to growing good crops : 
How can one be a successful farmer where the soil is poor? 
The wise farmer examines the soil where he wishes to make a 
home to find out if there is anything wrong with it. If it 
does not contain the food that his crops need he goes to the 
dealer in fertilizers and buys what is required. 

In some soils there is so much soda or salt that most 
sprouting seeds die. Since different plants do not need just 
the same food and some will thrive where there are substances 
that will harm others the farmer should try to plant those 
crops that will do best on his particular farm. 



2^ 




The cabin of the mountaineer is a delightful place in summer but has few 
of the comforts of the valley home. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 19 

EVERY HOME MUST HAVE WATER, FOOD AND SUN- 
SHINE. 

No one could live long without food and water. Perhaps 
you think you could live without sunshine, but you would soon 
become as pale and weak as the potato vine that grows in a 
dark cellar. Wherever you wish to make your home, whether 
it is in the desert, in the high mountains or in a city, you can 
have food and water brought to you. But you cannot change 
the amount of warmth and light that the sun affords or the 
amount of rain that falls. In choosing a place for a home you 
must think of these things. 

THE FARMER MUST MAKE HIS HOME WHERE THERE 
IS WATER, WARM SUNSHINE AND FERTILE SOIL. 

While we all must have food and drink most of us do not 
have to live where Nature supplies these things. We can make 
our homes in any place we wish and have what we need ship- 
ped to us. • 

It is the business of the farmer to raise the things we 
eat. Growing plants need water, warm sunshine, and good 
soil and therefore the farmer has to live where these are to 
be had. If one wishes to raise oranges he must seek a sunny 
valley and not the coast or the mountains. If there is not 
enough water in the valley it can perhaps be brought in a ditch 
from some river. If the soil is not just right it can be im- 
proved. But one has to take the sun, the clouds, the rain and 
the winds just as they are for we all know they cannot be 
changed. 

WHERE DOES THE WATER COME FROM? 

1. The winds bring the clouds from the ocean: Where do 
the clouds come from? Watch them and you will find that 
they are flying with the wind. Follow the wind back towards 
its home and it will take you a long journey to the westward 
out over the blue ocean. Here is where the clouds start. 

Have you not seen many times thin haze coming up from 
the west and spreading over the sky as a storm approaches? 
Sometimes the haze is streaked like wisps of hair. At other 
times it looks like fish scales and we call it a "mackerel sky." 
The haze is followed by heavy clouds that soon completely 
hide the sun and, at last, the rain comes. 

2. The clouds drop rain or snow: The rain may fall for 
hours and sometimes for days. Sometimes it drops quietly; 



20 



New Progressive Geographies 



at other times it is blown by fierce gusts of wind. It seems 
as though the clouds must loose all their water particles but 
as long as the wind keeps blowing from the ocean the clouds 
continue to sail across the sky. If the wind should change 
and blow from the land toward- the ocean the rain would soon 
stop and the clouds would give place to bright sunlight. 

The clouds float far inland over the mountains and val- 
leys, but the farther they go the lighter and thinner they be- 
come. If we follow them far enough we shall at last reach dry 
deserts where the sun is shining brightly. 

It is the cold air which the water particles meet as they 
rise from the ocean to form the clouds that finally sends them 
down again as raindrops or snowflakes. From almost any 
home in California you can see what the cold mountain tops 
do to the clouds. Not only is the storm heavier on the moun- 
tains than in the valleys but it also leaves there a white mantle 
of snow. 

All the water around us has come from the clouds. This 
is'the story of the water of the springs, creeks, rivers, ponds 
and lakes. If it were not for the winds that bring the water 




The angry wind-torn clouds coming off the ocean are threatening San Fran- 
cisco Bay with a shower. Rain is falling from the dark lower portion. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



21 



particles from the ocean all the land would be dry and- barren, 
and without any living thing. 

3. A part of the rainwater flies away again in the air: 
What becomes of all the water that falls from the clouds? If 
it remained on the ground it would in a year form a layer 
over California from a few inches to five feet in thickness. Let 
us see what becomes of the water when a storm has passed. 

Everything is wet for some time after the raindrops have 
stopped falling. The top of the ground is soft and full of 
water. . We say that it is muddy. There are rivulets upon the 
hill slopes and by the roadside. The grasses and trees are 
loaded with sparkling drops. But what happens now? With 
the change of the wind to the east or north the air becomes 
dry again. It gathers up the sparkling drops. It dries our 
clothing. It slowly takes the water out of a dish. It draws 
some of the water out of the ground leaving the surface dry 
and hard. Soon all the little ponds dry up. 

The water particles disappear in the dry air as it sweeps 
over the earth. We say that they evaporate. Although they 




The creek bank shows how the network of roots helps hold the soil. If it 

were not for the trees the floods would wash it away and 

leave the surface barren and rocky. 



22 



New Progressive Geographies 



have now become invisible it may be that in some other place 
the air will become cold enough so that they will appear again 
as fog or clouds. 

4. A part of the rainwater soaks into the ground and finally 
forms springs: We must not think that all the rainwater dis- 
appears in the air. Another part soaks downward through the 

loose earth until 
it finds the solid 
rocks. Here and 
there are tiny crev- 
ices in the rocks, 
and into these the 
water creeps. The 
little crevices often 
lead to larger ones, 
through which the 
water moves more 
easily. In this 
way very small un- 
derground streams 
are formed. If we 
followed one of 
these on its jour- 
ney it might lead 
us to a spring, in 
some near-by gulch 
or it might take 
us miles away to 
some distant valley 
where it comes to 
the top of the 
ground as a clear 



• ■ - - 

- 
■p 

• ■ 


H < &%\ 

. - ', 
" ' .. .»■< , "• ■ - ' <- i ' «• 


VT5 V; v'.- 


'• 


- 


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ji .'<•''.•,?- 




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w 






ifefe 


&' 


fi^ 


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cold 



If the 



part of the rain water runs away in beautiful 
dashing streams. The trees which over- 
shadow it help to keep the wind and 
the sun from drying it up. 



spring, 
water of a spring- 
does not come from 
very deep in the 
earth it may grow 



less in summer or even dry up. But if there are many little 
reservoirs far underground which feed the spring it will flow 
the same throughout the year. 

In the desert there are few springs because so little rain 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 23 

falls. Desert storms are often sudden and severe and are 
known as "cloudbursts." The water gathers quickly on the 
mountain slopes, and as there is little soil to hold it the greater 
part runs away down the canyons. 

5. Another part of the rain gathers in rivulets on the slopes: 
Go out while the rain is falling or soon after it stops and you 
will find rivulets running down every slope to join some near- 
by stream. 

You will find the rivulets larger where the ground is hard 
and there is nothing to keep the water from hastening, away. 

Where the soil is loose and deep, or where there is a car- 
pet of vegetation you will discover but little water for the most 
of it soaks into the ground at once. The loose earth and de- 
caying plants act like a sponge. This sponge helps to hold 
the water until it either soaks into the crevices of the rocks 
which lie below the soil, or until it is carried away in the air. 

In many places the ground is hard and so nearly bare 
that the larger part of the rainwater gathers in rills and flows 
away. Where the surface of the ground is formed of solid 
rock all the water flows away. You can see that these things 
are so by watching the city streets during a storm and com- 
paring the water upon them with the water upon a grassy 
hillside. 

6. The rivulets unite to form rivers and finally reach the 
ocean: The rainwater carried off by the thirsty air as well as 
that which soaks into the ground may be a long time getting 
back to the ocean. But that which escapes through the rivulets 
and rivers soon reaches its home. 

The water particles as they rise from the ocean and start 
on their journey over the land are perfectly pure. But when 
the water returns to the ocean it carries with it tiny quantities 
of many different substances. First there is the earth which 
it took from the hillsides and which gives the dirty yellow 
color to the rivers. If you live by the ocean you can see the 
color of the muddy river water extending far out from shore. 

There are other substances in river water that you can- 
not see. They have been dissolved out of the rocks and the 
soil. Among them are salt, soda and lime. For many thou- 
sands of years the rivers of the world have been carrying salt 
to the ocean. As none of this escapes with the cloud particles 
the ocean is little by little becoming more salty. Although the 



24 



New Progressive Geographies 



ocean water looks so pure and clean you will find if you taste 
it that it is very disagreeable. 

HOW WATER RULES OUR LIVES. 

1. In choosing a place for a home we inquire first about the 
water: Our health depends very much upon the kind of water 
we have to use, and so in choosing a home we should look 
first to the water supply. In some places the water contains 
so much salt, soda or lime that it is unfit to drink. In other 
places the water contains poisonous germs so that it is nec- 
essary to boil or filter it. 

Sometimes people have to make their homes where water 
is scarce. It may have to be hauled a long distance in barrels. 
In such cases it is sold by the gallon or pailfull. Where there 
are no wells or streams people often dig cisterns to catch the 
rainwater from the roofs of their houses. If the roofs do not 
collect enough water a piece of ground is leveled off .and 
cemented. From this the rainwater runs into cisterns. Long 
ago cisterns were used a great deal, for rainwater is purer than 
most other water. 




This is the home of an old-fashioned California farmer who has no water for 
irrigation and raises only hay and cattle. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 25 

2. The lack of water has kept people from making homes in 
parts of California: If you travel over California you will find 
places where homes are many miles apart. It may be the land 
is so rough that it cannot be cultivated but most likely it is 
because water is scarce. You will see herds of cattle and 
sheep feeding in such regions because these animals can make 
a living where there is very little water. Farmers would be 
very foolish to make homes in such regions unless water could 
be obtained for irrigation. 

Too much water is almost as bad as too little. Vast low- 
lands along such rivers as the Sacramento have to be protected 
by embankments before their rich soils can be cultivated. 
Those of you who live upon the Northwest coast know how 
wet the winters are there. You know how much work it is for 
the farmer to clear away the dense vegetation due to the heavy 
rains before he can prepare the soil for the seed. 

3. The kind of farming one does depends partly upon the 
amount of water his lands receive: If you live where there is 
too little rain for growing crops and no water for irrigation 
you will have to depend upon stock raising. If you have a 
great stretch of level land and there is a moderate amount 
of rain but no water for irrigation you will find the raising 
of grain will be profitable. If you live where there is an abun- 
dance of water for irrigation and the climate is hot you will 
probably raise oranges, lemons, figs, grapes, etc. If your 
climate is too cool for oranges there may be orchards of peach, 
pear, apricot, prune, walnut, cherry and almond trees. Where 
the land is low and wet there will be green meadows given 
over to cattle raising and dairying. Dairying will be profitable 
near the coast where it is damp and foggy. You will also find 
much land near the coast devoted to raising beans and sugar 
beets. 

4. Water aids us in traveling and carrying on trade: If your 
home is near the Sacramento or San Joaquin rivers you can 
see what a fine highway water makes. One can travel upon a 
large smoothly flowing river with nothing to worry about 
except sand-bars and snags. All one has to do if his farm is 
on a navigable river is to have a passing steamer take his pro- 
duce to market and bring back the needed supplies. 

If you live upon the coast you will see steamers and sail- 
ing vessels going past upon the ocean highway carrying 



26 



New Progressive Geographies 



goods from one place to another. If there is a safe landing 
place nearby a boat may stop with supplies and take away your 
produce. 

A PART OF OUR CALIFORNIA HOME IS WET AND A 
PART IS DRY. 

1. What do we mean when we speak of the different seasons? 
We usually divide the year into four parts and call them the 
seasons. These are Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. The 
spring is the growing season, the time of fresh green leaves 
and bright flowers. The summer is the time of harvest for 
the hot sun and dry air checks the growing plants and ripens 
their seeds. Fall is the time of fruit gathering and of falling 
leaves. Winter is the resting time for the air is sharp and 
frosty. 

In California we usually think of two seasons because of 
the way in which the rains come. One of these has little rain 
and we call it the dry season. During the other most of the 
rain falls and we call it the zvet season. 

2. What time of the year do we look for rain? As the sum- 
mer passes and the cool short days come we begin to look for 
rain and by and by it comes. Of course it does not rain all of 




The Sacramento River steamer stops at the front door of hundreds of farms 
and takes their fruit and melons to the San Francisco market. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 27 

the time in winter, for there are often weeks of beautiful 
weather. As the sun begins to climb higher in the sky, the 
days grow longer, and the leaves and flowers come out, we 
say that spring has come. Then the rains commence to slacken, 
there are more clear days. Almost before we know it summer 
has come again. Winter is, then, the rainy season and summer 
the dry season. 

But how different the winters and summers are in differ- 
ent parts of our California home. Upon the coast the winters 
are mild and the summers cool because of the cool winds and 
fog off the water. In the high mountains the winters are very 
cold and the deep snow covers the ground for six months. In 
the interior valleys, far from the ocean, the sun shines hot 
through the long dry summer, and even the winters are warm 
enough for oranges to blossom. 

3, How does the farmer get along since there is no summer 
rain? Is it not too bad that most of the rain falls in the win- 
ter when it is cold and the plants need it least, and that none 
falls during the hot summer? Many of the crops that the 
farmer sows make a very quick growth in the spring and are 
ready to harvest soon after the rains cease. But there are 
many other things such as fruits and vegetables that must have 
water through the summer to do well. The farmer must do 
one of two things — either he must obtain water for irrigating 
his fields or he must practice dry farming. Perhaps you have 
learned from your garden work how your plants can get along 
with very little water. If you keep the surface of the soil loose 
the rain that fell during the winter escapes so slowly into the 
air that the soil will remain moist all summer. If you allow 
the ground to bake and become hard on the top the water 
particles will fly away and the ground will quickly dry out. 
Because of this fact farmers who cultivate their lands carefully 
can make a living in those parts of our California home where 
the rainfall is light. 

4. What are the signs of coming rain? You go out of doors, 
look up at the sky and note the direction in which the wind is 
blowing and you say that it is going to rain. How can you 
tell? Is it not because you have watched the sky through so 
many seasons that you are quite certain what the weather 
signs say? 

Y^e have all seen the thin haze that creeps up over the 



28 



New Progressive Geographies 



sky from the west. This haze slowly turns to thick clouds 
which hide the sun. A soft pleasant wind begins to blow from 
the south. This gradually becomes harder and brings with it 
the driving rain. 

If you awake some morning planning to go on a picnic 
and the sky is red and lowering you had better stay at home 
for it is likely to rain. If at night the sun goes down clear 
with bright colored clouds the morrow will probably be pleas- 
ant. A halo around the sun or moon often means that a storm 
is coming. 

The men of the Weather Bureau who predict the weather 
a day or two ahead do not depend upon the sky and wind but 
upon a little instrument called a barometer. The storms that 
travel through the sky have their regular paths and the 




If one would raise a summer garden in California he must have water to 

keep the earth moist. This gardener has made furrows between the 

rows of plants so that he can thoroughly wet the ground. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



29 



Weather Bureau telegraphs ahead when it learns that a storm 
is coming so that we may get ready for it. 

5. From what direction do the storms come? You say that 
the south wind brings rain and yet that the clouds come up over 
the sky from the west. How can this be? You have all seen 
the little dust whirls that sometimes move across the fields. 
A storm is like a dust whirl only that it is many times larger. 
It reaches over hundreds of miles of country. The air in this 
great whirling storm moves in a direction opposite to that of 
the hands of a clock. As the storm reaches your home the 
air begins to blow from a southerly direction and as the storm 
leaves it blows from the opposite direction. Watch the next 
storm and see if this is not true. 

The air in the great storm whirl is sucked upward just 
as you see it in the dust whirl. When it has reached a great 
height it has become so cold that the water particles which it 
carries are turned to raindrops. Thus it is that the storms 
come from the west while the south winds bring rain and the 
north winds fair weather. 

6. Why is it that the ocean fog does not bring rain? Did you 
ever wonder why it does not rain when the dark heavy fog 







*&m 












. 












-' -M ■ ':■.-, '■':■;. . '■■ •• ' 








jja*;. 


■ '.: y^'.'il- 


mjafl0gg0^;^^ 






■""•SP^^pjHM 








K-; ■ ■? ■ 




bftHflU 



The ocean fog drifting in forms a blanket over the hills and valleys, 
higher hills rise into the bright sunshine above it. 



The 



30 New Progressive Geographies 

rolls in from the ocean ? The air is sometimes so full of water 
particles that they are collected upon the leaves of the trees and 
fall to the ground as drops. All summer the fog hangs along 
the ocean shore and yet it does not rain. This is because the 
water particles forming the fog are merely carried along by 
the wind that blows from the sea over the land instead of being 
whirled high in the air, as they are during the winter storms 
It is only in the high cold air that the water particles are 
turned into raindrops. 

If when the sea fog covers everything where you live you 
climb a hill or mountain you will finally come out above the 
fog in the bright warm sunshine. The fog is like a blanket 
covering the lowlands but is not thick enough to bury the hill 
and mountain tops which rise above it as islands do above 
the sea. 

Have you ever shivered in the valley or tide fog which 
often fills the valleys in the winter? This fog is sometimes so 
thick you can see only a short distance and so cold that it 
quickly chills you through. If you would like to know how 
this fog is formed go out to a pond, or lake or large stream 
on a cold morning and you will likely see a fog-like mist rising 
from the surface of the water. The invisible moisture rising 
from the ground turns to fog in the same way during the cold 
clear winter nights. 

RAIN DOES HARM AS WELL AS GOOD. 

1. Heavy rains gully the hillsides and injure the roads: 
Rain does not always stop when the earth has had enough. If 
the drops come slowly most of the water sinks into the ground. 
After a time, however, the ground will hold no more and the 
water that continues to fall must run away. It collects in 
streams upon the hillsides and begins to cut little gullies where 
the soil is soft and unprotected by trees or grasses. The larger 
streams sometimes wash roadways so badly as to make them 
impassable. 

The long-continued rains make the mud so deep we can 
hardly get about. In spring they rot the seeds the farmer has 
just planted so that he has to do the work over again. In sum- 
mer they spoil hay, grain and fruit. 

2. Heavy rains cause the streams to overflow: What becomes 
of the little torrents that run down the hillsides ? Some of the 
water gathers in hollows and forms ponds but most of it finally 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



31 



joins a creek or river. What a wild foaming stream the river 
is after a heavy rain! The water rises until it threatens to 
overflow the fields. If your home is in the valley your father 
may have to work hard to save the crops by building an em- 
bankment to keep the water in the channel. 

Before there were any homes in the valley the waters did 
no harm if they flooded the lowlands. In truth the floods did 
the valley good for whenever they spread over it they left a 
thin layer of fine mud or silt. This mud is the cream of the 
soil upon the hillsides and because of it the valley is now rich 
and productive. 

People who settled in the valley gave no thought to the 
danger of floods for they did not come every year. Finally 
when all the valley land had been occupied by homes, so that 
it became crowded, homes were made in the hills which bor- 
dered it. The trees were cleared away and the slopes plowed. 
After this when the heavy rains came the water flowed down 
the slopes faster than it did before and the floods became 
worse. The trees which once grew along the river helped to 
hold the banks from washing, but the farmers cut these down. 




The river has overflowed its banks and flooded someone's home, 
desolate it will be when the water goes down and the 
farmer and his family return. 



How 



32 



New Progressive Geographies 



Your home and fields in the valley may be in danger of being 
washed away because of the thoughtlessness partly of your 
father and partly his neighbors who live in the hills. 

3. Sometimes the usual rains do not come: Your father, 
if he is a farmer, plows the fields and puts in the crops ex- 
pecting that the winter and spring rains will come as usual. 
If they do not come the seed put in the ground will fail to 
sprout. If there comes only a little rain the seed will sprout 
and grow for a time but soon the young shoots will wither 
and die. 

How can your father be sure of getting returns for his 
hard work? Will he not have to join with his neighbors and 
build an irrigating canal from the nearest river and many 
branch ditches to the different fields ? Perhaps they will have 
to put a dam in the river and make a great reservoir so as to 
be sure of water for summer use. All this will cost a great 
deal, but will it not pay? 

A LAND WHERE LITTLE RAIN FALLS IS A DESERT. 

1. Strange animals and plants live in the desert: Do not 
think that a desert is a place of bare rocks and sand without 




On the right of this desert picture is a palo verde tree which grows tiny 

leaves in order to get along with little water. In the center 

is a giant cactus with spines in place of leaves. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 33 

living things. A desert is a place of little or no rain but it 
may have the very best of soil. Some deserts in far away 
parts of the world have no rain at all and nothing lives in 
them, but our California deserts have some rain and are inhab- 
ited by many curious plants and animals. 

Desert plants are unlike those growing about our homes. 
They all have very small leaves while many are thorny and 
possess a sticky sap. They have had to change their ways 
of living in order that they might stand the dry climate. 

There are many animals in the desert but they too are un- 
like those with which we are familiar. The animals about 
our homes are used to plenty of water and they could not live 
with the scanty supply of the desert. There are rattlesnakes, 
horned toads, and lizards of many colors. A wonderful tor- 
toise lives in the desert. It has water sacks under its shell 
which enable it to go a long time without a new supply. 

2. How is it that a few people make their homes in the desert? 
People who go into the desert are like the tortoise in that they 
have to carry their water with them. But those who make 
homes there need a surer supply. All our California desert 
valleys are surrounded by mountains. On these mountains 
enough rain falls to make a few springs and little creeks. 
From these springs iron pipes carry water out into the deserts 
where the people who are mining have to make their homes. 

Water can be obtained in some deserts by boring deep 
wells. Since the soil of the desert is usually rich people can 
then make their homes there and surround themselves with 
green fields and gardens. Find out what you can about a great 
desert in California that has been turned into one of the richest 
gardens in the world by water brought in a canal from a large 
river. 

THE SUN IS AS NECESSARY AS IS WATER. 

1. The sun gives light: Nearly all living things need the 
sunlight. Plants that grow in the dark have little color. 
Miners who spend most of their time underground are pale. 

Each morning the light of the rising sun awakens the 
earth. The flowers open their petals. The birds begin their 
songs. The animals seek their food. At night everything 
rests and sleeps except a few birds and animals that hunt their 
prey in the dark. 



34 



New Progressive Geographies 



2. The sun warms us: How we enjoy the sunshine after 
a cold night. The rays of the sun warm everything they 
strike. As the sun rises in the sky the air becomes so heated 
that we are glad to find a shady place. 

Living things need heat as well as light. As the spring 
comes on the increasing heat of the sun starts everything into 
life. We can almost see the buds unfold during the warm 
hours of sunlight. 

If the sky is clear at night the air cools so quickly that 
there may be a frost before morning. The tender plants 
almost stop growing and may be injured. When clouds cover' 
the sky during the day the air does not become so warm for 
they shut off a part of the heat of the sun. But at night the 
clouds act like a blanket to keep the earth warm until the sun 
comes up again. 

3. Sun and water go hand in hand: The sun alone cannot 
sprout the seeds in the ground. The sun alone cannot make 
the farmer's crops grow. Do we not have a desert where the 
hot sun shines and there is little rain? Some plants and ani- 
mals can get along, as we have learned, with very little wa- 




This is a picture of that desolate region known as Death Valley. There is 

not a living thing to be seen except a few small bushes. The white 

strip in the bottom of the valley is salt and soda. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



35 



ter. But all must have some water in addition to warmth and 
sunlight. i 

Let us go to the top of a high mountain where it is very 
cold and see what we find living there. Here the sun shines 
brightly and there is plenty of water, but we see little else than 
bare rocks. If we hunt about we shall find some little meadows 
with very short grass and a few little stunted trees about the 
size of bushes. We may see some chipmunks during the warm 
days but most of the year they are hidden away in their warm 
nests. We may also see some birds, but they only come here 
to spend the summer. During eight months of the year it is 
winter on this mountain, but although there is water and sun- 
shine it is so cold that few things can live here. 

If your home is on a farm, or if you only have a little 
garden you can tell us now what water, sunshine and warmth 
do to your plants. 

HOW WE DEPEND UPON THE SOIL. 

1. What do we mean by soil? The ground upon which we 




In the valley at the foot of this mountain there is a forest, but as we go 
up the slope the trees thin out and finally disappear so that its top is 
barren of every living thing. In the shadows of the cliffs snow- 
banks still lie though it is mid - summer. These 
help keep alive the summer streams. 



36 New Progressive Geographies 

walk is soil. It spreads like a carpet over all the earth except 
where the rocks stand up through it. Soil in which our plants 
grow best is dark and loose. It crumbles in our fingers. If 
we dig below the dark layer on the top the soil becomes harder 
and harder until we reach the solid rock. 

2. Soil is made from rock: Go out and study some cliff 
or creek bank and you will learn something about how the soil 
is made. At the top there is a layer of dark rich earth or soil. 
Below this is a lighter colored layer in which you may find 
some pieces of rock. Lower down there is crumbling rock. 
At the bottom will be solid rock, so hard that you can scarcely 
break it with a hammer. 

Once there was no soil on the earth. It was all solid rock 
like that which you saw at the bottom of the bank. The rain 
fell on the rocky surface. The warm sun shone on it during 
the day. Soon little cracks began to appear and into these 
some of the rainwater crept. The cracks grew larger and the 
surface of the rock began to crumble. At last plants took 
root in the crevices and reached down for food and drink. 

Tiny organisms of many different kinds made their homes 
in the crumbling rock and aided in preparing food for more 
plants. The most important of these organisms we call 
bacteria. Then came the angle worms and larger animals 
such as the gophers, moles, and ground squirrels. They bur- 
rowed in the earth and turned it over and over, until it was 
made into true soil. As the soil became richer more plants 
sprang up and when they died their leaves and stems crumbled 
and gave it the dark color of which we have spoken. 

3. Of what use is the soil? The soil is just as necessary as 
water, warmth and sunshine. It does not matter where you 
live, in the country, in the city, or upon the ocean, most of the 
food that you eat comes from the soil. Perhaps you think you 
could live upon meat if there were no soil to grow vegetables, 
grains and fruits. But you must not forget that the animals 
that furnish your meat would die without the grasses and 
other plants which get their food from the soil. Your living 
depends just as much upon the soil as does that of the farmer. 
If he raises good crops it enables you to live more comfortably 
wherever your home or whatever your work may be. 

4. Valley soils are usually the deepest and richest of all: 
If you have traveled at all in the country you must have noticed 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 37 

that the homes of the valley farmers are usually closer together 
and appear more prosperous than those of the farmers in the 
mountains. What is the reason for this? If all the land were 
nearly level as it is in the valleys or upon the plains the soil 
would likely be deep and rich almost everywhere. But much of 
our state, as we all know, is formed of hills and mountains, the 
slopes of which are often very steep. We have already learned 
something of how soil is made from crumbling rocks and how 
during every heavy storm the raindrops gather in little tor- 
rents which rush down the slopes to the valleys. Each muddy 
torrent is loaded with particles of the soil from the highland 
which it carries along until reaching the gentler slopes of the 
lowlands it drops a part of its load while a part is carried on 
to the ocean. 

On the steep slopes the soil washes away most easily and 
here we find it is poorest. On the gentler slopes it washes 
less and is deeper. The valley soil is the deepest of all for none 
washes away and new soil is constantly being added through 
the work of the water. 

The farmer's wealth lies in his soil. In the valleys it is so 
productive that he does not need a large piece of land in order 
to make a good living. Thus homes can be near together, 
which adds to the advantages which they can enjoy. 

The farmer who lives in the hills or mountains must have 
more land than the valley farmer, for much of the surface is 
too steep or rocky to cultivate. The hill farmer must also care 
for his soil or it will wash away, making him poorer and the 
valley farmer richer. 

The homes in the mountains must be far apart while the 
difficulty of reaching market is often great. But in spite of 
the poorer soil a mountain home is often pleasanter than one 
in the valley below. 

THE WAY IN WHICH THE LAND SLOPES DETERMINES 
THE SORT OF WORK DONE IN DIFFERENT PLACES. 

We have learned about water, warmth, sunlight and soil 
and how they affect our work. We must not forget that the 
way in which the land lies has also much to do with the kind 
of work done. The farmer prefers the valleys or the gently 
sloping hills. The stockman takes his herds to the rough hills 
and the dry slopes because it is impossible for the farmer to 
use such lands. The miner works in the mountains because 



38 



New Progressive Geographies 



there the veins of ore are easier to get at. Every place on the 
earth has its own work to which it is best suited. Every bit 
of the earth's surface is useful to us in one way or another. 

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM A DAY UPON THE SEA 
SHORE? 

1. We will choose a windy day for our walk so that we 
can see what the waves are doing. Where the headlands 
extend out into the ocean there are bold rocky cliffs. Where 
the lowlands come down to the water between the headlands 
there are long stretches of smooth sandy beach. 

With what a thundering noise the great breakers throw 
themselves against the cliffs. It seems as though the solid 
rock must be torn away. And indeed it is, for here and there 
at the foot of the cliffs we can see huge pieces that look as 
though they had only just fallen. All about these pieces are 
smooth, boulders which were broken from the cliff long ago and 
have been thrown about by the waves for so long that they have 
been made almost as round as cannon balls. If you will listen 




What a delightful time the children are having upon the beach at low tide 
when many curious little sea animals and plants are to be found. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 39 

you can hear the rumble of the boulders and smaller pebbles 
as they roll over each other with each retreating wave. 

2. In other places the waves are making sand beaches: The 
shores curve in toward the land where the valleys come down 
to the water. In some places the ocean extends so far into 
the land as to make bays where ships can anchor and be safe 
from storms. The bays are lined with sandy beaches where 
the water is clear and quiet. 

The story of the sand grains is a strange one. If you 
will examine the tiny grains you will find that they are very 
hard. They once formed parts of some rock in a cliff against 
which the waves beat. As the rocks crumbled away beneath 
the blows of the waves the softer parts were made into mud 
which the currents carried far out where the water was deep 
and quiet. There the mud settled to the bottom and formed 
a soft layer over the ocean floor. The harder parts were 
ground down until they became sand and were carried by the 
currents into the bays and then thrown up to form smooth 
beaches. 

3. The winds pick up the sand and build great dunes: 
Where the winds from the ocean have a free sweep over the 
dry sand at the top of the beach they pick up the little grains 
and carry them inland. There they are piled up in huge round- 
ed ridges called dunes. Unless plants get a foothold on the 
dunes the winds keep them slowly moving. The little grains 
on the windward side are picked up, carried over the top and 
dropped when they reach a quiet spot. Thus the dunes move 
along and sometimes bury trees and houses. 

4. The ocean winds are always cool: If your home is far 
from the ocean how you long during the hot summer days to 
visit the beach where the winds and waters are always cool. 
The sun shines on the ocean just as it does on the land but 
the water warms slowly while the land heats up very quickly. 
Before the summer sun can do very much toward warming 
the ocean the winter comes and cools it off again. This is 
the reason why people who live along our California coast 
dress almost as warmly in summer as they do in winter. 

5. The story of the islands that lie off the shore: The little 
rocky islands close to the shore look as though they had once 
been a part of the mainland. The waves are really eating away 
the land. They found the rocks softer in some places than 



40 



New Progressive Geographies 



in others and in those places worked more rapidly so that after 
a time the hard rocks formed a cape extending out into the 
water. But the waves kept on and made the cape into a pen- 
insula connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus. 
Finally the isthmus was torn away and the island was born. 

But these are not the only islands we have. Some of you 
can see from your homes upon the coast great islands lying 
far out in. the ocean. These appear like bold steep mountains. 
Once these islands were a part of the mainland upon which 
you stand and you could have walked out to them without 
getting your feet wet. But the land sank and the ocean flowed 
over it leaving these mountains as islands. 

6. The water of the ocean is salty: Did you ever try 
drinking ocean water? If you have you will not wonder that 
shipwrecked people die of thirst with water all around them. 
You can find the salt in sea water by boiling down a dish 
of it. There are many other substances in sea water but they 
are in such tiny quantities that you cannot find them. 

Our California salt is obtained in two ways. One is by 




This island was once a part of the mainland but the waves have torn away 

the softer earth and left this bare hard rock which now forms 

a safe home for the sea lions and water birds. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



41 



the use of large shallow ponds where the water evaporates, 
leaving the salt in the bottom. The beds of the dried up 
lakes in our deserts also supply salt. These lakes, like the 
ocean, had no outlet, and as the streams were continually 
bringing them salt as they do the ocean their waters finally 
formed a strong brine. When the region became a desert the 
lakes dried up and left us the salt spread over their for- 
mer beds. 

7. The water is always rising and falling: One of the 
strangest things about the ocean is that the water is always 
rising or falling. Twice a day the water is high and twice 
it is low, but the hours of the high and low tides are always 
changing. If we watch carefully we shall find that the tides 
have something to do with the moon. The high tides always 
follow behind the moon as though it were pulling the water 
toward it. 

High tides help vessels to enter some of our shallow Cali- 




This huge sea cave was made by the waves on one of the islands lying off 
the coast. The tide is out and the boys have entered it in a boat. 



42 



New Progressive Geographies 



fornia harbors. The tides are felt away up the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin rivers into the heart of our state. 

8. The ocean is full of living things: If you walk along 
the beach you will find curious things thrown up by the waves. 
There are beautiful shells of many kinds and delicate sea-weeds 
of brilliant colors. In the hollows of the rocks when the tide 
is out we find ponds of water filled with wonderful creatures. 
There are bright colored fish, hermit crabs, molluscs, sea ane- 
mones and many others. 

Out in the deeper water you can often see large fish, star- 
fish, sea urchins and great abalone shells. Upon the rocky 
islands you may find some sea lions. Each of the creatures 
of the water has its own home just as do the creatures of the 
land. Some kinds of shells are found in the sand, some upon 
the rocks, some remain out of the water while the tide is 
out, while others remain in deep water. 

WHAT A RIVER AND ITS VALLEY HAVE TO TELL US. 

1. Why many people seek homes in the valley: Wherever 
we go we find the valleys more thickly peopled than the hills. 
We have already learned that the valleys have the richest soil. 







*.-> . ck 



The fishermen are hauling in their nets and have made a good catch. This 
quiet bay is full of many kinds of fish including the great salmon 
which is seeking a river in which to lay its eggs. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



43 



We must also remember that the gently sloping lands of the 
valleys are more easily planted and harvested and that nearly 

all the land is suit- 
able for crops of 
some sort. In the 
mountains we find 
only little fields 
scattered here and 
there that are level 
enough to be culti- 
vated. 

We can get an 
abundance of wa- 
ter in wells in the 
valleys; we can 
also go to the river 
and take out water 
in canals for irri- 
gation. In the hills 
and mountains we 
usually have to de- 
pend upon spring 
water which is 
purer than the river 
water but not so 
plentiful. 

Road building is 
easy in the valleys. 
Here also, because 
there are many peo- 
ple, there are vil- 
The valleys are like 
How much easier 




This waterfall has not yet been put to any use. 

It is in a forested valley very far 

from where people live. 



lages, post-offices, stores and schools 

rivers, for we can use them as highways 

it is, if we are traveling through a mountainous country, 

to be able to follow the valleys. We can travel from one 

end of California to the other and follow valleys most of 

the way. 

2. The rivers are put to many uses: You will not find 
many rivers in our state upon which freight boats can be used, 
but they are worth a great deal to us for all that. Their chief 



44 



New Progressive Geograppiies 



use is to supply water for irrigation. Follow the canals back 
toward the mountains and you will find that they all get their 

water from some 
river. 

In places the 
rivers plunge over 
rocks in rapids and 
waterfalls and here 
they are put to an- 
other use. They 
may be made to 
turn water-wheels 
which cause the 
mills to go, or to 
make electricity 
which affords us 
light and power for 
many different pur- 
poses. Sometimes 
the river water is 
made to do double 
work by first turn- 
ing a mill and then 
being carried off 
in a ditch to irri- 
gate the land. 

The river is the 
servant of the peo- 
ple who live along 
its banks, bring- 
ing comfort and 
wealth. 

3. How the river behaves in different places : The river does 
not follow a straight course to the sea but winds here and 
there. In the hills and mountains its course is crooked because 
it tries to escape the hard rocks that lie in its way. Where the 
rocks are hard the water wears them away more slowly. Here 
the river flows in a narrow channel between steep slopes and 
tumbles over the rocks in rapids and waterfalls. Where the 
rocks are soft we shall find that the canyon widens to a valley 
through which the river flows gently. 




The river has worn a deep rocky channel through 

the mountains on its way from the snowy 

peaks to the level valley. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 45 

When the river reaches the broad valleys toward its mouth 
it flows very slowly and winds as though it hardly knew which 
way to turn. Here' the banks are low and made of soft earth 
through which the river as it winds is always picking out 
new channels. 

4. The river is not always quiet and well behaved: In sum- 
mer you will find the water clear and quiet. It is doing no 
work now. If it were not for the many springs in the moun- 
tains away back toward its head the river would almost dry up. 

How different the river appears after the winter storms. 
It is then a muddy torrent. In the swifter places it drags peb- 
bles and sand along the bottom and these wear away the rocks 
little by little and make the channel deeper. Where the river 
flows gently it has to drop the pieces of rock. This makes the 
river shallower and more likely to overflow and flood the coun- 
try along its banks. 

5. The story the river tells: As we watch the work of 
the muddy torrents, during a rain, cutting little gullies in the 
hillsides, it is easy to see that the river must have made the 




The river has reached the valley and flows quietly between wooded banks. 

Now it is low and sand bars* appear but in early spring when the 

snows are melting on the mountains it flows bank full. 



46 New Progressive Geographies 

valley through which it flows. Long ago there was no valley. 
The river began to cut a channel like those of the muddy tor- 
rents. After many years it succeeded in making a gorge or 
canyon through the hills. As the years passed the hills con- 
tinued to crumble and wash away ; where the rocks were softer 
this work went on faster and valleys finally appeared. 

The beautiful valley as we see it today is the work of the 
river. But we must not think that it is finished. The hills 
that rise back of the valley are still being washed away with 
every winter storm. Many thousands of years from now the 
hills will have almost disappeared and the farmer can then 
use all the land. 

6. The climate of the valley: Most of us prefer the cli- 
mate of the valley to that of either the sea shore or the moun- 
tains. It is almost always cool along the coast. In the moun- 
tains the winters are cold and snowy. In the valley the sum- 
mer days become very warm. In the lower parts of the val- 
ley the nights are cold and the frost may sometime destroy 
your early spring vegetables, or freeze the fruit buds in the 
orchard. If you place your home upon the side of the valley 
the frost will seldom do you harm. This is because the cold 
air settles in the lowest places it can find. Notice sometime 
when you are out early in the morning how cool the hollows 
are compared with the higher land about them. 

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM A JOURNEY THROUGH 
THE MOUNTAINS? 

1. The Mountains are not waste land: We sometimes think 
of those lands where no people live as waste or worthless. In 
this we are very much mistaken. We must not look upon the 
steep and rugged mountains as of no use to us. On the con- 
trary, they serve us in so many ways we could not possibly 
get along without them. 

2. More rain falls on the mountains than in the valleys: 
We can see from our homes in the valleys that the clouds are 
heavier and hang longer over the mountains than they do over 
us. Many a time have we seen a storm over the mountains 
while the sun is shining brightly in the valley below. 

The cold air over the mountains turns the water particles 
in the air into clouds, while the warm air over the valley causes 
them to melt away. 

The mountains are, then, very necessary to the farmer. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 47 

If there were no mountains there would not be enough water 
in the streams for irrigating the rich valley lands. They would 
remain almost unsettled because of the lack of water. 

3. The farther we go up the mountains the colder it becomes: 
Have you not all seen snow on the mountains after a winter 
storm ? Perhaps oranges are ripening on the trees about your 
home, but how cold must be those snow-covered mountains. 

Let us take a few days of our summer vacation and climb 
the mountains. The first day after leaving the smooth valley 
we travel through a beautiful hilly country. There are many 
orchards and comfortable homes. By night, however, we have 
reached a different land. The air is cool and we need our 
coats. In the morning the ground is covered with a white frost. 

We go on up the mountain and enter deep forests of giant 
trees. By and by the trees become smaller, the slopes steeper 
and more rocky and at last we come out on the top of a moun- 
tain peak far above the forests. Here the winters are so cold 
and the wind so fierce that very few plants can grow. 

4. Mountain products are unlike those of the valleys: We 
have now learned why the products of the mountains are dif- 




A village in a mountain valley. The people living here cut hay on the mead- 
ows, obtain fuel and lumber from the forested slopes and 
perhaps dig in the earth for gold. 



48 



New Progressive Geographies 



ferent from those of the valleys ; each kind of plant does best 
in the climate to which it is adapted. Therefore we cannot 
look for the same plants on the cold mountains as in the warm 
valleys. You could not grow oranges or figs in a mountain 
valley, but you could grow apples that are much better than 
those in the valleys. 

5. Mountains furnish fuel and lumber: Our California val- 
leys are too dry for pine forests. The tops of the very high 
mountains are too cold. But between the dry valleys and the 
cold mountain tops there is a broad belt where the climate is 
just right; and it is upon these middle slopes that we find the 
finest pine forests in all the world. 

There are many sawmills in the mountains. The saw- 
mills are often difficult to reach because of the roughness of 
the country, and so, instead of building roads and hauling the 
lumber down, an easier method is used. A flume is built of 
plank and a stream of water turned into it. The flume winds 




The sawmill is in a narrow valley in the mountains. The slopes are too 

steep and heavily forested for farming and there is little forage for 

cattle. Lumbering is the only industry that brings people here. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



49 



down the mountains on an easy grade until it reaches the val- 
ley. The lumber as fast as sawed is thrown into the flume 
and in this way with little trouble is delivered to the railroads 
in the valley below. 

6. Mountain streams supply water power : Do you not love 
to watch a mountain stream dashing over the rocks and down 
through a canyon? If you have seen one of the beautiful wa- 
terfalls in the mountains you have perhaps wondered why men 
do not put up mills close by and make the water run them. 
But you must remember what a hard journey it was to reach 
the waterfall. It would cost a great deal to build roads. Be- 
sides this all the materials for use in the mill would have to 
be hauled up the steep mountain roads, and the manufactured 
products would have to be hauled away again. 

Long ago, if one wished to use a waterfall he had to build 
his mill close to it, but now there is an easier way. We turn 
the force of the water into electricity and carry it wherever 
we want to use it. We can build our mills on some bay more 




A summer ranch in a mountain valley. All about the valley are forested 

slopes. The rancher comes here in the summer with his cattle and 

pastures them on the green meadow. As winter approaches 

he takes them down to a warmer valley. 



50 



New Progressive Geographies 



than a hundred miles from the waterfall. Have you not seen 
the lines of great poles carrying the electric wires? The 
power of the waterfall is brought to our homes to give us light 
and to do different kinds of work. 

7. Mountain streams furnish water for irrigating our lands: 
The water in the streams that flow by our doors comes from 
the mountains. If it were not for the mountains the streams 
would be small and most of them would entirely dry up in 
summer when the crops need water most. The cold moun- 
tain tops not only take the moisture from the clouds but 
turn much of it into snow which cannot at once run away. 
Sometimes the snow falls to a depth of ten to twenty feet. 
Much of this remains until the warm days of summer, 
and as it slowly melts it aids in keeping alive the many little 
streams and springs. These supply the water we so much 
need for our gardens. If a stream does not have sufficient 
water in summer to supply the people along its banks, then a 
reservoir is built far back in the mountains near its head. This 
will hold a part of the water that would run away in the early 
spring when we do not need it for irrigation. 




The miners have excavated this great cavern underground in their search 
for gold. The huge posts are helping to hold up the roof of the cavern. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 51 

8. The mountains form pleasant summer camp grounds: 
Summer is so delightful in the mountains that we all long to 
spend our vacations there. While the heat is so great in the 
valleys that we can hardly bear it, the mountains are cool and 
pleasant. There are green meadows in the mountains dotted 
with flowers. There is an abundance of pure cold water. 
There are shady forests, great cliffs and waterfalls. A few 
weeks out of doors in the mountains make us strong and 
fit for hard work when we go home. 

9. A few people make their homes in the mountains: 
Because of the steep slopes only a little of the land can be cul- 
tivated. If we go very high in the mountains we find it too 
cold to grow anything. The mountain farmer requires more 
land in order to make a living than does the valley farmer. 
He plows and plants a part of his land, but most of it he 
uses for pasture. 

The miner also lives in the mountains. He does not care 
how rough the slopes are or how cold the weather is if he 
can only find the veins of gold. 

The lumberman also lives in the mountains because here 
are found the forest trees suitable for lumber. Occasionally 
we run across a little village in the mountains to which the 
people, scattered over many miles of country, come for their 
supplies and mail. 

WHY IS THE COUNTRY THE BEST PLACE FOR A HOME? 

We think our country home is more attractive than your 
city home. In the country we have room to run and play and 
make as much noise as we wish. Here there is plenty of sun- 
shine and fresh air. All about us are orchards and gardens 
that supply us with fresh fruit and vegetables. In the pasture 
are the cows that give the milk we enjoy so much. The creeks 
and woods contain all kinds of interesting things. We have 
almost all the advantages of people that live in a city and 
many things that they do not have. 

ONCE COUNTRY HOMES HAD FEW COMFORTS. 

The country homes of our grandfathers had few com- 
forts. The roads were poor and during the winter season they 
were almost impassable. It was difficult to sell produce for 
money and usually the farmer had to take "store goods" in 
exchange. There was no rural mail delivery. There were no 



52 



New Progressive Geographies 



electric lights, and before the discovery of petroleum most 
people used only candles. It was a long distance to school, 
and most boys had so much work to do they could not at- 
tend regularly. 

ONCE PEOPLE IN COUNTRY HOMES DEPENDED UPON 
THEMSELVES FOR THE MOST OF THEIR NEEDS. 

Long ago there were no great factories. People depended 
almost wholly on themselves for their needs. They raised 
nearly all their food. They made their own clothing, shoes 
and many of their utensils. The chief things that they had 
to buy were tea, coffee, salt, sugar and molasses. The farmer 
usually raised his corn and sometimes his wheat and had them 
ground in some little mill not far away that was run by water 
power. He kept a few sheep for their wool, which was spun 
into thread on the spinning wheel and then woven on a hand 
loom. Many of the tools used on the farm were home made. 
Wild game supplied most of the meat. The little cabin in 




The country must surely be a pleasant place in which to live if it affords 

such attractive homes as this one. If your home is not as 

pretty as this one you can make it so. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



53 



which the family lived was made of logs. 
and doors were made of split plank. 



The floors, tables 



NOW COUNTRY HOMES HAVE ALL THE COMFORTS OF 
CITY HOMES. 

Now farmers have all the good things that city people 
have and some that city people do not have. The farmer has 
his automobile which takes him to town over smooth hard 
roads. His home has electric lights, hot and cold water and 
other conveniences. In many parts of the country there is a 
daily mail. The country schools are as good as the city schools. 
Country homes have woods and open fields about them and 
plenty of sunlight instead of being shut in by the homes of 
other people. 

COUNTRY PEOPLE STILL DEPEND MUCH UPON THEM- 
SELVES. 

The farmer now receives more money for his crops than 
his grandfather did, and so he has more to spend. Although 




These are some poor women of Cairo in Egypt. They can afford nothing 

better than this donkey cart for an afternoon ride. One of the women 

is a Mohammedan as we can tell by the veil over her face. 



54 



New Progressive Geographies 



he raises almost everything that his family really needs, he 
buys his clothing, shoes and nearly all the articles about the 
house and upon the farm because he can get better ones than 
he can make himself. 

The farmer has his own vegetables, milk, butter, eggs, 
fruit and meat. These are perfectly fresh and better than they 
would be if he had to buy them. The farmer can now afford 
to buy luxuries and the railways and steamships bring them 
to him from all parts of the earth. 

WHY DO PEOPLE LIVE IN CITIES WHEN THE COUN- 
TRY OFFERS SUCH PLEASANT HOMES? 

1. Long ago people were safer in the cities: Many long 
years ago it was not as safe to make one's home in the coun- 
try because of wars and robbers. People lived in villages or 
cities which were surrounded by strong walls. They went out 
into the country to work in the morning and returned to their 
homes in the village at night. In some of the distant parts 
of the world people still live in this way, but most city walls 
are no longer any protection and they are being torn down. 

2. A city is the best place to engage in buying or selling: 
A good place to buy and sell is where business calls many peo- 
ple together. Perhaps a town will some day grow up about 




This is the wall which the inhabitants of an ancient city in France built for 

their protection long ago. The narrow gate leads into the city. 

From the towers the people once beat back the enemy. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



56 



the little country store near your home because it is easily 
reached by all the people living in that region. The city in 
which you may live was once a village. People came to the 
village to trade. And because of the increasing business other 
people put up stores and mills. In this way the village kept 
growing, for each new kind of work carried on drew more 
people. 

3. The life and bustle of a city attract many people: There 
are many who do not love the quiet life of the country. They 
prefer to live where there is noise and excitement all day and 
much of the night. They do not seem to miss the fresh air 
and sunshine of the country. They do not care for the free 
life out of doors. 

LIFE IN A CITY HAS DISADVANTAGES. 

Life in the city is not as healthful as life in the country. 
The late hours, the noise, the bustle and excitement wear 
people out. People who live in a large city often lack the 




A dam has been built across the river where it comes out of the mountains. 

From the reservoir thus made the water is carried away in a canal 

for the use of nearby cities and for irrigating farm lands. 



56 



New Progressive Geographies 



needed sunshine. They do not take the exercise they ought 
in the fresh air and always ride because the street cars are 
so handy. City people become much like machines and depend 
upon others for all the things they need. The fruit and veg- 
etables to be had in a city are not as fresh and well flavored 
as those which come directly out of your garden. 

CITY PEOPLE DEPEND UPON OTHERS FOR EVERYTHING 
THAT THEY HAVE. 

If you live in a city your father is probably busy at one 
kind of work. He does not have the time, nor, could he if he 
had the time, supply the family with water, food, fuel and the 
many other things needed. Every bit of food that you eat is 
produced by some one else. Water is brought to your home 




In the cities of the East water is not piped to each house but comes to 

fountains placed here and there in the streets. In this picture the 

women of Nazareth, Palestine, have gone to the fountain for 

water. They carry it home in jars upon their heads. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 57 

in pipes by the water company. The grocer brings the things 
you need to eat. The milkman brings your milk. The fruit 
peddler brings fruit and vegetables. The baker stops with a 
loaf of bread every day. The utensils your mother uses in 
the home are all bougnten. You go to different stores for 
your clothing, shoes and hats. If you had to go out into the 
country to live I am afraid you would be quite helpless until 
you had learned to do things for yourself. 

CITY PEOPLE CANNOT TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES AS 
WELL AS COUNTRY PEOPLE. 

People who learn to do many kinds of work become self- 
reliant. Woodsmen, miners and farmers who live far from 
places where they can buy their necessities learn to do a sur- 
prising number of things. They build their own homes; they 
raise a large part of their food and learn to cook it, and some- 
times make their own clothes. They learn to wait upon them- 
selves and thus can be comfortable wherever they go. 

THE FEEDING OF THE PEOPLE OF A CITY IS AN IM- 
PORTANT BUSINESS. 

There is little room in a great city for growing fruits 
and vegetables or any of the other foods that are needed. All 
these have to be brought in from the country outside the city. 
The business of supplying many thousands of people with 
something to eat is a very important one. For miles all about 
a city we find almost every one engaged in raising supplies 
of every kind of produce that the country affords. Almost 
as many more are engaged in selling and delivering these sup- 
plies to the different homes throughout the city. 

If you will watch the trucks, trains or boats that reach 
the city early in the morning, you will find them loaded with 
produce from the country. The most of this goes to the whole- 
sale markets. Here come the peddlers and shop-keepers to 
buy their day's supplies. 

Such articles as sugar, flour, tea and coffee are stored in 
large quantities in warehouses, for they have to be brought 
a long distance and can be kept without spoiling. The coun- 
try produce must, however, be brought in every day. If the 
supply were cut off for a single day people would begin to 
suffer. 



58 New Progressive Geographies 

WHERE DO CITY PEOPLE GET THEIR WATER AND FUEL? 

Water and fuel are as important as food. City people 
cannot get their water from wells or springs as people in 
country homes usually do. Water has to be brought to the 
city in aqueducts or pipes. If the city is very large these must 
carry a river of water. It must be pure enough to drink and 
there must be enough of it for all the many different needs 
of the city. 

The water for a city is usually obtained from some dis- 
tant mountain stream. If this is not large enough, a reservoir 
is built so that a great quantity may be kept stored for the 
dry season. Care is taken that the slopes of the hills about 
the reservoir are kept clean so that the water will be suitable 
to drink. 

When the water reaches the city it is turned into branch 
pipes. From these, smaller pipes lead to each of your homes. 
The water in the pipes must have pressure enough to carry 
it to the tops of the tallest buildings. 

City .people cannot go out into the forests and cut trees 
for fuel. They must go to the market and buy their wood 
or coal. If gas is to be used there must be pipes connecting 
the homes with some place where gas is manufactured or 
with some one of the oil fields where there is an abundance 
of natural gas. 

IN WHAT SORT OF HOMES DO CITY PEOPLE LIVE? 

Have you ever been in the heart of a large city and seen 
the huge buildings ten to twenty stories high? The land is 
so valuable that the buildings are made very tall in order that 
they may hold many people. We could hardly expect to find 
gardens and lawns where the land is so valuable. In the out- 
skirts of the city land is not so valuable and the houses are 
one to two stories high and are usually surrounded by trees 
and gardens. 

In the heart of the city there are many hotels and apart- 
ment houses in addition to office buildings and stores. In the 
apartment houses each family may live upon one floor. Ele- 
vators carry people from one floor to another. How would 
you like to have a home of this kind? 

The tall city buildings are usually built of stone, brick 
or cement. Many great city blocks are now built of re-inforced 
concrete or cement. By this we mean that they have steel 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



59 



frames or skeletons under the cement. These frames make the 
buildings strong enough to withstand earthquakes. 

Wood is not a suitable material for large city buildings. 
This is partly because wood is not strong enough and partly 
because wood easily takes fire. Many city buildings contain so 
little wood that they cannot burn up. 

EVERY CITY WAS ONCE A LITTLE VILLAGE. 

1. A village on a great Bay became the largest city in Cali- 
fornia: San Francisco was once only a village with a few lit- 
tle houses. Then there were not many people in California. 
There was no business to make a city. 

When gold was discovered in California people came here 
from all parts of the world. They found the village of San 
Francisco the most convenient place to stop and get their tools 
and other supplies for mining. San Francisco is on the shore 
of a bay where the largest ships can come and load and un- 
load their cargoes. San Francisco bay is at the mouth of a 
great river by means of which the miners were able to go 



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Parks with trees, fountains and shady walks give some of the advantages of 
country life to people who h ave to li ye m cities, 



60 



New Progressive Geographies 



far inland, even to the foot of the mountains where they were 
to hunt for gold. 

San Francisco was, then, a good place for carrying on 
foreign commerce. It was a good place for business of buy- 
ing and selling. It was a good place from which to start for 
the mines. These things made the little village of San Fran- 
cisco a great city in less than a year. 

2. Another great city of our state sprang up in a rich valley 
where many roads met: What do you suppose made a little 
village in Southern California become the great city of Los 
Angeles ? The little village was very well situated. A stream 
of never-failing water flowed by it. All about were miles of 
fertile land which needed this water, for the climate is dry. 

The village had the farther advantage of lying at the 
meeting point of trails and roads leading to other valleys and 
to distant parts of California. Every one who traveled through 
Southern California had to go through or near the village of 



Los Angeles. 



This made the village a good center for trade. 




Every city sprang from a village. Such a village did not stop growing when 

it had supplied the needs of the people living around it but reached 

out by railroad and river to trade with those far away. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 61 

Finally when the country settled up and the railroads 
were built into Southern California they also came to Los 
Angeles because this was a good stopping place. And in this 
way it came about that because the place was central, because 
there were fertile lands on every side and because it had a 
pleasant and healthful climate the village of Los Angeles be- 
came the great metropolis of Southern California. 

3. The village of Fresno became a city because it lay in 
the centre of a fertile and well watered farming district : Who has 
not heard of Fresno raisins? If you could visit the valley 
where they are grown you would see miles of vineyards. You 
would also see orchards, fields of alfalfa and herds of dairy 
cattle. A great stream called the Kings River flows through 
this valley and supplies water for all the land. There are thou- 
sands of homes in this fertile region. The people who live 
here must have some place where they can buy their supplies 
and from which they can ship the raisins and other produce. 
Thus it is that we find in the middle of the valley the pros- 
perous city of Fresno. 

4. Situated upon a river at the end of the long trail from the 
East was once a village which is now the capital of California: 
Long ago Captain Sutter built a fort where Sacramento now 
stands. Here came the Gold Hunters and rested after their 
journey across the mountains and deserts. Here also the river 
boats brought the Gold Hunters who had reached San Fran- 
cisco by sea. The village that sprang up here was well sit- 
uated for trade. After a time the railroads came and they 
also made Sacramento a stopping point. Then orchards were 
set out upon the fertile lands lying all about. The fruit was 
collected at this central point and shipped to distant markets 
far across the mountains. Thus Sacramento became an im- 
portant city and capital of California. 

5. The business of mining sometimes makes a city: Can 
you not tell us about some of the cities and towns of California 
that sprang up because of mines near by? If you will travel 
through the mountains you will find towns that are supported 
chiefly by miners. Whenever it happens that the mines cease 
being worked the miners leave and the towns become almost 
deserted for lack of business. If the lands about can be culti- 
vated and farmers make their homes there, then the town 
will not be wholly abandoned. 



62 



New Progressive Geographies 



6. Towns sometimes spring up in the desert: Perhaps you 
would like to know how it is that we sometimes find a town 
in a desert. If two railroads cross each other in the desert, 
and people have to change cars there, a town will spring up. 
If there are mines near by the town is the source of supplies. 
Such towns are not pleasant places in which to live because 
water is so scarce it cannot be used for trees, gardens and 
lawns. 

WHERE WOULD YOU START A VILLAGE IF YOU 
WANTED IT TO BECOME A MANUFACTURING CITY? 

Would you not first seek a place where there was cheap 
water-power, fuel or electricity? Do you know of places in 
California where any of these things can be obtained? 

In planning to build mills or factories you must also have 
in mind the possibility of getting raw materials to use in the 
factories. Besides this you must be able to ship your manu- 
factured articles to market. Mention some place in California 
well situated for manufacturing. 




This village grew up in the desert because of a mine nearby. It does not 

look like a very pleasant place in which to live but underneath 

the piles of rock and earth are rich gold mines. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 63 

WHAT ADVANTAGES MUST A VILLAGE HAVE TO BE- 
COME A COMMERCIAL CITY? 

If you had visited San Francisco when it was a little vil- 
lage you would surely have said what a fine situation this 
place has for a great commercial city. On one side is the bay, 
large enough to hold all the ships of the world. You can sail 
out through the Golden Gate onto the broad Pacific Ocean 
and thus reach almost every country with which you might 
wish to trade. 

From San Francisco you can go up the Sacramento River 
into the very heart of California, where the rich farm lands 
stretch away to the north and south as far as you can see. 
Can you find any city that is better situated for trade and com- 
merce than San Francisco? 

WHAT INFLUENCE HAS A GREAT CITY UPON THE KIND 
OF WORK CARRIED ON IN THE SURROUNDING COUN- 
TRY? 

The people of a city need much fresh country produce 
every day. This can be supplied to them cheaper and in bet- 
ter condition if it is grown near by. Because of this need all 
the fertile lands lying around a city are given over to the 
growing of vegetables and small fruits. The lands less suited 
to these products are covered with dairy cattle. Those pro- 
ducts that can stand being shipped a long distance, such as 
grain, apples and oranges, can be grown far away. 

HOW WE TELL DIRECTION. 

What are the different means by which we can tell the 
direction of a place? One is as follows: Stand with your 
right side toward the sunrise and your left toward the sun- 
set. Now raise your right arm until it is extended straight 
out from the shoulder and it will point toward the east. Your 
left arm similarly extended will point toward the west. Your 
back will be toward the south and your face toward the north. 

If at noon you stand with your back toward the sun and 
extend your arms as before, you will have the same four direc- 
tions. Go out of doors on a clear night and find the North 
Star by means of the Great Dipper and its two pointers. If 
you face this star your back will be south as before. Your 
right hand will be toward the east and your left hand toward 
the west. 



64 New Progressive Geographies 

If it is cloudy and the sun is hidden, you can use a little 
instrument called a compass. This consists of a slender iron 
needle having the properties of a magnet. When this is hung 
at the middle so that it will swing freely it always points to- 
ward the north or very nearly north. When we speak of the 
four points of the compass we mean north, south, east and 
west. If we want any direction half way between any two 
of these, we say, for example, northeast, southeast, etc. 

IF YOU WISHED TO VISIT A FRIEND LIVING SOME 
MILES DISTANT, HOW COULD YOU FIND THE WAY 
TO HIS HOME? 

1. He might write telling the direction and distance: If your 
friend lives ten miles to the north, south or east you would 
have little trouble in finding his place if the country is level. 
In such places roads are usually laid out according to the 
"points of the compass," that is, in north - south and east- 
west directions. 

Where the country is rough and hilly, roads do not follow 
straight lines but wind here and there seeking the easiest way. 
If your friend lived toward the east your directions might 
then read like this : — "Follow the road leading in a northeast- 
erly direction until you come to a creek. Cross the creek and 
take a branch road turning to the right past a school house. 
A little distance farther the road winds around a hill and then 
crosses a marsh. Beyond the marsh it climbs a long hill, then 
descends to a river. A mile beyond the river and on the right 
side of the road lies my home." 

2. You might obtain photographs of the country: Photo- 
graphs of the scenes along the road to your friend's home 
would help very much in finding the way. Photographs, you 
know, picture the country just as it appears to your eyes, but 
it would take a good many and would be quite expensive. 
People who travel must have some better means of finding 
their way about. 

3. A miniature of the country would serve very well: If you 
can imagine the country through which the road leads to 
your friend's house made very small, it would then be a min- 
iature. This miniature or model or relief, we use one of the 
two latter names in our geography studies, shows the coun- 
try as it really is. We might make this model of clay and 
small enough so that we could carry it about. W r e might 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



65 



think of the model as a toy country. It represents the real 
country just as the toy houses, animals and trees represent 
the real nouses, animals and trees. 

If you will study carefully the model of the country that 
you will have to cross to reach your friend's home, you will 
find shown on it the same things that you see in the real coun- 
try. There are the hills with the road winding among them, 
the valley through which the river flows, while here and there 
are farmhouses. You would surely be able to find your way 
with the aid of the model, but it would be heavy and awk- 
ward to carry. 

3. Your friend might send you a plan of the country : A plan 
of the country is made upon a smooth sheet of paper. It may 
be of the same size as the model which we have just been talk- 
ing about. It differs from the model in having no real hills 
and valleys. It would be like the model if the latter were flat- 
tened out smooth. A plan of the country is what we would 
see if we were in an aeroplane high in the air. In looking 




This is the picture of a valley. It shows the valley as it appears to be. 
we wanted to see it as it really is we should be directly 
above so as to look directly down upon it. 



If 



66 New Progressive Geographies 

down we could see the rivers, roads, forests and houses, but 
we could not tell where the hills were unless the sun were low 
enough to make them cast shadows. We commonly use the 
word plan for a drawing made of a house, garden, park or 
other small bit of country on which we put all the different 
things we could see if we were high in the air and looked 
down upon them. But if we want to show the hills, moun- 
tains and valleys, we make what we call a map. 

4. What do we mean by a map? To make a map we 
measure the position and size of everything in that part of the 
country we wish to show. We make a drawing just as we 
would of the school room or school yard. We do not, how- 
ever, put upon a map pictures of the real things in the coun- 
try, but certain marks which stand for them. Some of these 
marks, colors or shadings tell us where there are hills, where 
the valleys lie and where the slopes are steep. These things 
do not show us the real country as does the relief map, but 
they help us to form pictures in our minds of how the coun- 
trv looks.- 

J 

A map is like a page of a book. We have to know the 
meanings of the letters and words before we can understand 
the story they tell. If you can read the map you can very 
easily find your way to your friend's home. The map tells 
you at every step of the way the sort of country you are pass- 
ing through and what to look for before it comes in sight. 

A MAP IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM A PICTURE. 

When we want a picture of some pretty country scene 
we draw or sketch it just as it appears to our eyes. The pic- 
ture may contain trees, a river, hills and mountains. Those 
that are near look very large, while those far away appear 
small, even though they are really large. If we climb to the 
top of a hill to get a better view, we find that our picture no 
longer looks the same. It appears so different that we hardly 
know it. The kind of picture we make of a bit of country 
depends on where we are when we look at it, but a map is 
made to show the country as it really is and always looks 
the same. 

A MAP IS THE BEST GUIDE IN A STRANGE LAND. 

If you were in a strange country one of the first things 
you would try to get would be a good map. With the aid of 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 67 

a good map you could mid out all about the country before 
you had traveled over it. You could find upon the map the 
places to which you wish to go. You could tell how far it 
was and whether the road would be level or hilly. You could 
tell whether you had to cross any mountains. You could tell 
where the towns were if you wished to stay over night. 

The people who first visited California had nothing to 
guide them or to tell them what sort of a land lay ahead of 
them. They made their own maps and often drew by guess 
those parts which they had not seen. Maps made in this way 
sometimes exposed those who came later and tried to use them 
to great danger. General Fremont, who explored much of our 
state, once nearly lost his life by depending upon an incorrect 
map. His map showed a river flowing across the great Sierra 
Nevada mountains. He tried to find this imaginary river and 
so got lost in the heart of the mountains in mid winter. 

HOW PLANS, MAPS AND MODELS ARE MADE. 

1. We will first make a plan of the school room: This 
should show what we would see if we looked down into the 
room from above. We would see the children's desks, the 
teacher's desk, chairs and anything else that the room con- 
tained. To draw a plan of this room on a sheet of paper 
we shall have to make it smaller than it really is. To find 
out how much to reduce it and what scale we must use we 
take a tape and measure the sides of the room. If it is thirty 
feet by forty feet we might make our drawing of such size 
that one-quarter of an inch would equal one foot. In that case 
the drawing would be ten inches by seven and one-half inches. 
In the same way measure and reduce the size of every ob- 
ject in the room. 

2. A plan of the school yard: First measure roughly the 
sides of the yard so that you will know the scale that must be 
used. Perhaps you can use the scale of one foot equal to one- 
eighth of an inch. Since in making the map of a bit of coun- 
try we always draw it so that north is at the top of the paper, 
south at the bottom, east at the right hand and west at the 
left, we will make this arrangement in drawing the yard. To 
do this we shall need a compass. Stand at one corner of the 
yard and with the aid of the compass find if the sides of the 
yard lie east and west, north and south. If they do you can 
draw the lines of the yard parallel to the sides of your sheet 



68 



New Progressive Geographies 



of paper. If the sides of the yard do not lie in the direction 
of the four points of the compass, find the angle they make 
with the direction of the compass needle. Then draw them 
upon your paper, so that they will make the same angle with 
the north and south line of the paper as the lines of the yard 
do with the compass. 

You can now make a plan of the block in which the school 
stands, or of some park near by. We might call this plan 
the simplest form of a map. But a real map, such as we use 
in our study of geography, shows many other things besides 
those we put in a plan. 

3. A relief model of the country in sight of the school: 
We cannot go to the trouble of actually measuring the region 
of which we wish to make a model, for it is too large. It will 
answer our purpose, however, if we mold the clay so as to give 
the different objects which we wish to show the size and posi- 




The rivulets gathering from the rains have worn little gullies on the hill- 
side where there are no grass roots to hold the soil. The little gullies shown 
by the shadows we can imagine are real canyons and the ridges between them 
mountains. They appear much as a mountainous or hilly country does when 
the sun is low enough to cast shadows. Thus the photograph helps us to un- 
derstand how it is that the real mountains and valleys of the earth can be 
shown upon a flat surface or map. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 69 

tion which they appear to have. If you will look over the 
country from some high point you can fix pretty well in your 
minds the places where the hills and valleys lie, the position 
of the town, the school house and other objects. Make the 
different objects as nearly as you can in their real propor- 
tions. That is, if one hill is half as high as another, make it 
half the size of the other on the model. Arrange the model 
so that north will come at the top, or, if it is lying flat, so that 
north will be in the direction of the side that is farthest away. 

In finishing the model make the creeks and rivers blue; 
also lakes or the ocean if it is included. Show the houses by 
little squares of white and the roads by two fine parallel lines. 
Trees might be shown by small circular markings. 

4. From a model a map can be prepared: We will now 
make a map from the model, taking care to have north toward 
the top of the paper. We will make the map the same size 
as the model so that an inch on the model will be an inch on 
the map. Draw first the rivers and creek^ and any other bod- 
ies of water that appear on' the model. To show the hills on 
the flat surface we shade the paper on one side of them. This 
gives an appearance similar to the shadows made by the sun 
when it is near setting. We can also show the slopes of the 
hills by making short parallel lines. These must be made heavy 
and close together to indicate steep hills. If the slopes are 
gentle the lines should be made lighter and farther apart. 

Next draw the roads and locate the houses, including the 
school house. If there are any marshes show them by little 
groups of short lines like tufts of grass. The forests you can 
show by irregular or circular markings. 

If, now, you have learned the meanings of the different 
marks of the map you can form a picture of the country in 
your mind almost as easily as though you had the model or 
the real country before you. 

THE MAP IS MORE CONVENIENT TO USE THAN THE 
MODEL. 

. The model is heavy and difficult to carry about. Besides 
it is easily broken. We can print the map upon thin, light 
paper and roll it up or fold it so that it will take up very little 
room. We study the model first because it is easier to under- 
stand. It is an exact copy, only on a very small scale, of the 
real country. In looking at the model we see the country as 



70 



New Progressive Geographies 



RELIEF MAP 

OR 

MODEL 

OF 

CALIFORNIA 




The Home and Its Relation to the World 71 

it is, though very much smaller, but in looking at a map of 
the country we have to picture it in our minds. 

FROM SOME HIGH POINT NEAR THE SCHOOL COMPARE 
THE COUNTRY IN SIGHT WITH A MAP OF THE SAME. 

1. The map shows the hills and their slopes: Spread out 
the map so that the top is toward the north. It now lies in 
the same position as the country that it shows. If there are 
any hills in sight find them upon the map, and see if they are 
in the right position. Notice farther if the deeper shadings 
of the hills on the map correspond to the steeper slopes of 
the real hills. 

2. The map shows the river and the tributary creeks: Find 
all the streams you can in the country spread out before you 
and see if they are rightly shown on the map. Which way 
does the river flow? Notice that the creeks turn down the 
valley as they flow to meet the river. This will help you to 
tell in which direction the river runs. Trace one of the creeks 
back to its starting place in the hills. Find out in what part 
of its course it flows the swiftest. 

3. The map shows the lowlands : Point out on the map the 
valley through which the river flows. The valleys on the map 
are not shaded as are the hills, for they are nearly level. Often 
the valleys or lowlands are colored a pale green on the maps. 
Note if the hills come close to the river at any place and if 
they are steeper in such places. If any part of the valley is 
marshy note how the marsh is shown on the map. 

4. The map shows the farm-houses, the town and the roads 
leading to it: Point out the roads marked on the map. Com- 
pare them with the real roads that you can see. Tell why the 
roads follow straight courses in the valley while they wind 
here and there in the hilly country. Find the town on the 
map. Can you tell from the map why the town was built 
where it is? Point out any farmhouses that you know. 

WHAT THE RELIEF MODEL SHOWS OF THAT PART OF 
THE RIVER BEYOND THE HORIZON. 

1. The whole of the land drained by the river is its basin: 

Before us is a model of the whole country drained by the 
river and its branches. This we call a basin because the land 
slopes toward the river from all sides except one. Upon one 
side there is an opening and through that the river flows away 



72 New Progressive Geographies 

toward the ocean. If there were no gap in the sides of the 
basin the water could not escape and would form a lake. 

If we should climb to the rim of the basin we would find 
the land sloping away on the opposite side toward another 
river basin. This high land between two river basins which 
sheds the rain in different directions is a watershed or water 
parting. If you followed the water parting all around the 
basin in which the river rises, you would find it sharp in most 
places like the peak of a steep roof. Sometimes the watershed 
is so flat that you can hardly tell which way the water flows. 

2. The slopes are steepest about the head of the river: 
Our model shows that the farther up the river we go the 
steeper its channel becomes and the swifter it flows. At the 
same time the valley narrows and is replaced by a canyon, 
while the hills become very steep. In this part of its course 
the river dashes over huge rocks and occasionally there are 
waterfalls. Many branch streams come to join the main river. 
Each one flows in a little canyon of its own. Here and there 
are springs which help feed the river. By the time we have 
reached the head of the stream it is reduced to a tiny rivulet. 

3. Most of the land suited to farming is found along the 
lower course of the river: We will now follow the river from 
our home downward towards its mouth. The model shows 
that the valley becomes broader. Many side valleys join the 
main valley and help widen it. The hills now do not rise as 
high and have gentler slopes. In the lower valleys nearly all 
the land is suited to farming. Even the hills are plowed and 
made to support crops. 

4. The sort of slopes the river basin possesses determines 
what the people who live in it must do: We have seen that 
farming is the chief industry in the lower part of the river 
basin because of the gentler slopes and richer soil. Part way 
up the river where we live the farm lands form about half 
the surface. The most of the hill slopes are steep and are used 
for pasturage. The hills also support scattered trees which 
supply fuel for the homes. 

Toward the head of the river the patches of land that 
can be cultivated become smaller. It is colder here than in 
the lower valleys. There is more rain and often snow falls. 
Most of the slopes are too steep even for pasture, but they are 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 73 

not waste land, for here grow the heavy forests whose trees 
are so valuable for lumber. 

As we climb to the very tops of the mountains rising 
along the watershed we find ourselves in a very different re- 
gion. Here it is so cold that hardly anything can grow, while 
the snow falls many feet deep. Steep rocky slopes appear all 
about us. Here the miners can more easily discover the veins 
of ore, which farther down the mountains are often hidden 
by soil and vegetation. 

WHAT DOES THE MAP SAY ABOUT THE RIVER BASIN? 

The map tells us the same story as the model, only that 
it is more difficult to understand. The mountains on the map 
do not stand out as they do on the model and so we add dark 
shadows to make them appear to do so. The lowlands on the 
map are left without shadows and so we know they must have 
flat or gently sloping surfaces. We can easily tell from a good 
map what different parts of the river basin are suited for. 

THE MAP SHOWS SOME THINGS THAT THE MODEL 
DOES NOT. 

The model is intended chiefly to show the appearance of 
the country as Nature left it. A map usually shows many 
things that people have put upon the land. The map of our 
river basin shows the scattering houses, towns, roads, rail- 
roads, bridges and canals. The map shows the straight roads 
in the valleys and the winding roads in the mountains. A 
good map is more useful than a model as a guide in a strange 
land. 

MAPS TELL US HOW THE COUNTRY LOOKS ABOUT 
HOMES IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF CALIFORNIA WITH- 
OUT OUR HAVING TO VISIT THEM. 

1. The map of the country about a home in Central California: 
This map shows no hills at all. The land appears to be almost 
flat for many miles in every direction. We might call this 
level land a plain, but we are sure we must be in either the 
Sacramento or San Joaquin Valley. We learn from the map 
that a river flows past the home and that it has cut a trench 
in the valley. The river does not fill the whole of the bottom 
of the shallow trench, but winds from side to side. The map 
shows a little town, but as it does not lie close to the river the 
latter is probably not navigable. The roads run in straight 



74 



New Progressive Geographies 



lines north and south and east and west. The town lies where 
two of these roads cross. 

2. The map of a home in Eastern California: The map of 
this home says that the country about it is very rough. The 
river which flows near it lies in a deep canyon with very steep 
slopes. The river winds as though it were trying to find an 
easier way through the rocks. The roads also are very 
crooked. The map says that on one side of the home there 
are still higher mountains. It says farther that there is but 
little land level enough for the farmer to plow. This home 
must be in the Sierra Nevada mountains. 

3. Map of a home in Southern California: This home lies in 
a valley at the southern foot of steep and lofty mountains. 
The valley is very long and slopes gently down to a river. 
The map tells us that the streams while they are in the 
mountains flow through deep and narrow canyons. There 
does not appear to be a bit of land anywhere in these moun- 
tains level enough to be cultivated. The map says farther 







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To make a map of the region about a home upon a plain like this would be 

a simple matter. It would be like drawing a plan of the school 

room as there are no hills or valleys or streams. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 7$ 

that after issuing from the mountains onto the valley slopes 
the streams seem to lose their definite channels and to flow 
anywhere over the surface. This must be because they are 
so loaded with sand and gravel from the steep mountains that 
they fill up their channels in the gently sloping valley and so 
wander here and there without any banks. The number of 
roads and houses and villages tell us that this must be a 
thickly settled and fertile valley. - 

4. The map of a home on the coast : The map of the coun- 
try about this home tells us many things. On one side is the 
ocean. On the other side are mountains running parallel with 
the coast. Between the ocean and the mountains there is a 
long narrow strip of smooth land that slopes gently down to 
the ocean cliffs. This lowland next to the ocean is sometimes 
called a valley and sometimes a plain. The smooth surface 
of this coastal plain tells us that it was once beneath the ocean. 

The map also shows a river flowing through the moun- 
tains and into the ocean. The river has cut a narrow channel 
across the plain. At the mouth of the river there is a sand 
bar and behind it a lagoon. Near the mouth of the river 
are the ranch buildings. This home is difficult to reach and 
it is equally difficult to ship away produce. There is no safe 
landing for boats and a long journey over rough roads is 
necessary to reach the railroad. 

WE WILL BEGIN THE STUDY OF OUR CALIFORNIA 
HOME FROM A RELIEF MODEL. 

1. The model shows the position and shape of California: 

California is one of the largest states of the Union. It lies 
upon the Pacific Ocean about midway of the western coast of 
North America. California is long from northwest to south- 
east but extends inland only about a quarter of its length. 
With such a long coast line what wonderful advantages we 
have for trade. We can set sail upon the waters of the ocean 
that wash the shores of our home state and journey to the 
farthest parts of the earth without leaving our boat. 

2. The model shows that much of the state is rough and 
mountainous: As we first look at the model or relief map it 
seems as though so much of California was rough and moun- 
tainous that it could not support many people. We must not 
forget, however, that California is a very large state and that 
the model has been made on a small scale. There are hun- 



76 



New Progressive Geographies 



dreds of little valleys in which people live that you would have 
difficulty in finding on the model. Much of the surface that 
appears mountainous contains patches of nearly level land 
where people live. 

3. The model shows one very large valley: When we look 
at the model there is one very large valley that at once attracts 
our attention. This lies in the heart of the state with moun- 
tains all around it. This valley is so large that if you traveled 
on a swift express train it would take you the whole of a long- 
summer day to ride from one end to the other. Do you not 
think we might better call this region a plain? 

If you study the model you will find many other valleys. 
Some of these are in the coast mountains. Others in Southern 
California. East of the highest mountains are many large 
valleys. 




Would you not like to live in this beautiful valley? Here are vineyards and 
orchards and running streams back of which are the hills covered with oak, 
madrone and spruce. To make a map of this valley we would want to show 
the hills, the creeks, the forest, the roads and orchards as well as the houses. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 77 

4. Mountains lie along the coast of California: The model 
shows that the coast of California is bordered by mountains 
and that the shores are usually bold and rocky. We can under- 
stand how it is that the first people who sailed along these 
shores thought the interior was all mountains. Along the 
middle part of the coast the mountains appear to rise directly 
out of the ocean. At other points where large rivers empty 
into the ocean there are broad valleys. 

5. The highest mountains lie near the eastern side of California : 
We can readily pick out the highest mountains. They extend 
almost north and south along the east side of the Great Valley 
of which we have already spoken. There are few valleys in 
these mountains such as we find among the Coast Ranges. 
The many streams seem to flow in deep narrow canyons. The 
mountains look as though we could easily climb them from the 
west but upon the east they appear very steep. 

6. The model shows the rivers and river basins : The largest 
basin lies in the heart of California. Many rivers enter it but 
they all unite to form one which flows away to the ocean 
through a gap in the Coast Mountains. 

Another large river appears upon the northern part of 
the model. This river winds through high mountains to reach 
the ocean. Turning now to the southeastern part we find one 
large river that forms the eastern boundary. 

7. A part of California appears to have no rivers that flow to 
the ocean: If we look carefully at the model we shall see that 
the eastern part has few rivers. How can we account for this 
strange thing? Stories tell us that long ago, when people 
traveled in ox wagons to California, they suffered and some- 
times died in this region where we see no rivers. It must be 
that this land lying to the east of the lofty mountains is a 
desert. 

If you will study the model carefully you will discover 
that even if there had been rivers here they could not have 
reached the ocean. There is a continuous watershed of moun- 
tains stretching between the desert and the ocean. The water 
that falls on the western side of these mountains reaches the 
ocean but that which falls upon the eastern side flows into 
basins from which there is no outlet. Look at the model care- 
fully and you will be able to find some of these basins. Per- 
haps you can find two or three with lakes in them. So little 



78 New Progressive Geographies 

rain falls in eastern California, and so much of what does 
fall flies away again in the air that though the lakes are 
fed by living streams from the mountains they never become 
any larger. 

8. It appears easy to travel in the direction in which the moun- 
tain ranges lie: 

The chief mountain ranges lie parallel and extend in 
nearly the same direction as the coast. Between the moun- 
tains lie valleys which appear to offer convenient routes for 
wagon roads and railroads. Note how far you can travel in 
some of the valleys without having to cross any mountains. Do 
you not think it appears much easier to travel up and down 
California parallel to the coast than to start at the coast and 
travel toward the interior? 

9. Gaps or passes make it easier to cross the mountain ranges : 
If the mountain ranges were high and steep throughout their 
whole length it would be almost impossible to cross them. 
Look at the model carefully and you will find many low gaps 
or passes which make it easier to go from the coast to the 
Great Valley. If it had not been for the mountain passes it 
would have been much more difficult for our grandfathers to 
reach California. 

10. The coast of California has few good bays: The stories 
of the early navigators that sailed along this coast tell us that 
they found few good places to anchor. The coast line as you see 
from the model bends in and out, but not enough in most 
places to give protection. If there had been more harbors upon 
our coast the settlement would have been easier. It would 
also be easier to ship away our products. 

11. There is only one great bay: The model shows US 
one great bay upon the coast of California. It has a narrow 
entrance and several arms extending far into the interior. 
One arm reaches through the Coast Mountains to the Great 
Valley. Nearly half the state slopes towards this bay. It 
must form the great centre of trade and the point from which 
the most of our products are shipped by water. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 79 

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED OF THE WIND, THE RAIN 
AND THE SUNSHINE WILL, WITH THE AID OF THE 
MODEL, TELL US MUCH ABOUT THE CLIMATE OF 
OUR STATE. 

1. What do we mean when we say. the weather has been 
pleasant? When we say we are having pleasant weather we 
mean that for a little time, perhaps a few days, the air has 
not been too warm or too cold for our comfort, that the sun 
has shone out of a clear sky and that there has been little wind. 
If there has been a great deal of rain and wind we say the 
weather has been stormy. 

2. What do you mean when you say that you live in a warm, 
dry and windy climate? When we speak of the climate of a 
place we mean the kind of weather which it has through a 
long time, such as a year or several years. If the air of your 
home is unusually warm, though there may be some cold days, 
we say it has a warm climate. If the wind blows a great deal 
we say the climate is windy. 

3. Explain from the model why some parts of California might 
have a wet climate. 

We have learned that the clouds bring the rain from the 
ocean. We have learned also that more rain falls upon the 
cool mountains than in the hot valleys. It must be, then, 
that heavy rains fall upon the coast mountains because the 
storms coming from the west strike directly against them. 
Now if we turn to the mountains in eastern California we find 
that they are much higher than the Coast Mountains. The 
clouds that pass over the latter strike the high mountains and 
they, too, have heavy rains and snows. 

4. From a study of the model where would you say the least 
rain falls? 

Since the rain clouds usually come from the west and lose 
the most of their water particles upon the mountains we should 
look for little rain in the valleys east of the mountains. We 
should say that these valleys ought to be dry because they lie 
in the shadow of the mountains. If we seek upon the model 
for the lowest lands behind the highest mountains we shall 
find them in eastern and southeastern California. Here are 
the barren deserts upon which very little rain falls. 

5. Point out those valleys that have a cool climate: Those 
who have been to the ocean know that at whatever time of 
the year they go there the water is cool. The water so cools 



80 New Progressive Geographies 

the winds that blow over it that the land near the coast is also 
cooled. The ocean winds blow up the valleys which you can see 
upon the model, carrying the chilly fog far inland. Find upon the 
model the one break in the Coast Mountains through which 
the winds and fog can reach the Great Central Valley. 

6. Point out upon the model those valleys which you think 
ought to be very hot: 

If the Coast Mountains break the cool winds then the 
valleys lying to the east of these mountains ought to be very 
warm in summer. The farther we go the hotter the summer 
weather ought to become until we finally reach the desert val- 
leys in southeastern California. If your home is in any one of 
the hot valleys point out its position upon the model and tell 
why it is hot. 

7. Point out those parts where it is coldest and where much 
snow falls: 

We have learned that it is colder on the mountains than 
in the valleys. We have seen snow on the mountains while the 
flowers are blossoming in the gardens at the foot of the moun- 
tains. On the high mountains it is very cold and the snow 
sometimes falls ten to twenty feet deep. The mountains toward 
the north ought to be colder and have more snow than those 
toward the south. The model tells us where these cold 
snowy regions are. 

8. Can the model tell us anything about the forests? The 
tops of the high mountains are too cold for trees while the 
valleys are too dry except for the oaks. Thus we know where 
to look for the great forests of pine, spruce and fir. They 
grow in belts on the mountain slopes where it is not too cold 
nor too dry. Thus the model shows us where the forests are 
to be found. 

THE MAP OF CALIFORNIA. 

1. The map shows many things that do not appear on the 
model: Having learned from the model how the surface of 
California looks we are going to find out from a map some 
of the things men have put upon it. Among these things are 
cities, roads, railroads and canals. Maps we have learned are 
shaded to show where the highlands and lowlands are. This 
makes it possible to tell from the map where most of the people 
live, and why the railroads and roads are built where we find 
them. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 81 

2. Where do we find the cities? The cities and towns are 
marked upon the map just where we should expect to find 
them. Here are San Francisco and Oakland upon a great bay 
from which ships can sail to all parts of the world with prod- 
ucts of the nearby valleys. Here are San Diego and Eureka 
upon good harbors. Here is Sacramento on a river with a 
great valley all about it. Here is Fresno in the midst of a 
fertile valley which is watered from a great river. Here is 
Los Angeles where many roads meet. 

3. What does the map say as to the position of the roads 
and railroads? The greater number of the roads and railroads 
appear to follow the valleys for not only is it easier to build 
them there but most of the people live upon the lower and more 
fertile lands. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to cross 
the mountains from one valley to another. To do this in the 
easiest way low places or passes are selected. Examine the 
map carefully and see if this is not true. 

The map shows us also that the railroads do not usually 
follow the ocean shore for any great distance. This is because 
high mountains rise so close to the water that it would be 
very difficult to build them there. Point out upon the map 
those parts of the coast of which this is true. 

WHAT BROUGHT OUR GRANDFATHERS TO CALIFORNIA? 

It was the discovery of shining particles of gold in the 
beds of some of the mountain streams that brought our grand- 
fathers to California. They braved all kinds of dangers in a 
land that they knew nothing about in the hope of finding some 
of this gold. Now people come to California to raise fruit and 
enjoy the pleasant climate, but in those early days nothing but 
gold would have led them to leave their comfortable homes 
and come to this new land where they would have to endure so 
many hardships. 

HOW DID OUR GRANDFATHERS FIND THE JOURNEY 
TO THE LAND OF GOLD? 

1. They had an unknown way to travel: At the time of 
the discovery of gold there were few people besides Indians 
living in what is now California. There were Missions and 
little Spanish towns along the coast and in the nearby valleys. 
Here and there were adobe ranch houses and around them 
herds of cattle, horses and sheep. But most of the great land 
between these settlements and the far away Mississippi Valley 



82 New Progressive Geographies 

was almost unknown. A few hunters and trappers had visited 
this wilderness of mountains and deserts but there were no cor- 
rect maps. When gold was discovered people made their way 
across this land as best they could. 

2. The Pioneers met many dangers: The Indians did not 
like to see white people come into the country and kill their 
game and so they fought them wherever they could. The 
country was not easy to travel over for the mountains lay 
directly across the route which the emigrants wished to take. 

. In winter the snows made it impossible to cross the mountains. 
In summer water and feed for their stock was hard to get upon 
the broad sandy deserts. 

3. There were no lakes or rivers that could be used: If you 
were starting out to travel across a rough country would it 
not be much easier if you could find some waterway? How 
easy it would have been after crossing the Rocky Mountains 
to embark upon some westward flowing river and follow it 
down to San Francisco Bay. 

4. The way to California by ship was long and dangerous: 
Many people came to California by boat, but the journey took 
several months. There were few steamboats and the route 
around Cape Horn was dangerous. There was no Panama 
Canal to shorten the journey. Those who crossed the Isthmus 
afoot or on horseback were likely to get some tropical fever. 

HOW DID THE EARLY SETTLERS OBTAIN THEIR SUP- 
PLIES? 

The early settlers could bring little with them and the 
journey took many months. They had to depend upon wild 
game for much of their food. Flour could be obtained in San 
Francisco, to which place it was shipped by boats, but it, as 
well as everything else, cost a great deal. For a long time 
there was little farming because every one wanted to hunt 
for gold. The soil of the valleys looked so inviting, however, 
that after a time those who were disappointed in finding gold 
turned again to farming. 

HOW DID HOMES FINALLY COME TO BE BUILT IN ALL 
PARTS OF CALIFORNIA? 

My home, says the first one to speak, is in the foothills 
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Grandfather came here 
seeking the gold that he had heard was scattered through the 
gravel in the beds of the streams. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



83 



My grandfather, says a second, came to California to 
raise wheat. He thought that was a sure way of making a 
living, while mining was very uncertain. He made his home 
in the Sacramento Valley. 

My home, says a third, is near Fresno. Here father is 
engaged in growing grapes and making raisins. Many other 
people are doing the same thing and we may be able soon to 
supply the whole world with raisins. 

My father, says a fourth, wanted to raise cattle. He 
bought an old Spanish ranch in the Coast Ranges. It was so 
large it took a vaquero two days to ride around it. This is 
a good cattle country for there is an abundance of grass on the 
hills and the winters are not cold. 

Says another, my father picked out a home in a valley in 
the Coast Ranges. Here it is not hot enough to grow oranges 
but prunes, almonds, peaches, pears and cherries do well. 
There are also miles of vineyards and many gardens where 
vegetables of every sort are grown. 

My home is in a mountain valley, says still another. 
Father wanted to raise apples, and as this fruit does best in the 



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One of the old Spanish homes in Southern California. The walls were made 

of adobe bricks because there was little timber at hand. The roof was 

covered with baked tiles. Later a porch was added and covered 

with shingles which were then easier to get than tiles. 



84 New Progressive Geographies 

mountain valleys where snow falls in winter we moved to this 
place. Here there is more rain than there is in the lower val- 
leys and the grass does not dry up so quickly. The mountains 
are pleasant in the winter because we can go coasting and 
sometimes there is skating. 

My home is in a beautiful valley in Southern California, 
says a boy who lives in the midst of orange orchards. Here 
it never becomes cold and the gardens flourish most of the 
winter. To be sure it does not rain much, but the mountains 
supply the water the orchards need. We have to thank the 
mountains for many things and among the most important 
of these is water. If it were not for the mountains this would 
not be a region, of orchards and gardens. 

I live in the mountains of Northern California, says a 
mountain boy. My father is a lumberman. He helps supply 
the boards, beams and shingles for your home. The great 
trees many hundreds of years old are growing all about. We 
are going to leave some of the finest of these giant trees for 
the people from other places to come and see. 

A desert home is mine, says the last boy. ' It is pleasant 
enough in winter but so hot in summer that we hardly know 
what to do with ourselves. We are at work getting borax from 
an old lake bed. If we could find borax anywhere else we 
would not stay here. 

HOW DID THE EARLY SETTLERS REACH THEIR HOMES 
IN CALIFORNIA? 

The people who first crossed the mountains to California 
used oxen to haul their wagons, or "prairie schooners," as we 
often call them. They had to make their own way through 
the mountains as best they could. They had no bridges upon 
which they could cross the gulches and rivers. It was many 
years before the main route over which they traveled became 
a good road. 

The miners searching for gold did not stop to make roads. 
They packed their supplies upon the backs of horses, mules 
or burros and were thus able to travel through the roughest 
mountains with scarcely a trail. 

As more people came to California roads were finally built 
to all the important towns both in the mountains and in the 
valleys. Over these roads traveled the great stage coaches 
with their six and eight horses. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



85 



How much easier it would have been traveling in Cali- 
fornia in the early days if there had been more navigable 
rivers. The Sacramento is the only important river highway. 
Although this river does not take one very far, yet we must 
not despise it for it leads from the ocean into the very heart 
of our great state. It was very easy for people who came by 
boat to California to reach the mines in the Sierras, even 
before there were roads. One could change from the ocean 
vessel to a little river boat and thus reach many of the towns 
in the Great Valley of California. 



HOW DO PEOPLE NOW REACH THEIR HOMES? 

1. A few homes are easiest reached by water: Homes along 

the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers are reached 

easiest by boat. 
Produce is sent 
to market by the 
same means. 
Many towns sit- 
uated upon the 
shores of San 
Francisco Bay 
receive and send 
goods by boat. 

If you will look 
at the model or 
map of Califor- 
nia you will see 
that many towns 
upon the coast 
have mountains 




Mountain towns are reached by roads around the steep 

curves of which the old-time stage with its six 

horses used to dash at break-neck speed. 



behind them so that it is difficult for them to trade with the 
interior. The absence of good harbors makes trade by the 
ocean dangerous although during calm weather most of these 
towns are reached by little coasting steamers. Where there 
are no landing places boats sometimes anchor a little way 
from the shore and load by means of a cable stretched to the 
land. 

2. Railroads have been built through many valleys : Railroads 
have been built into all the larger valleys of California where 
many people live and there are large quantities of produce and 



86 



New Progressive Geographies 



supplies to be carried. Railroads extend out in every direction 
from Los Angeles and San Francisco. People who have to 
work in the city can now live out in the country. How pleas- 
ant it is to live far away from the noise and bustle of the city. 
Railroads make it possible for the city worker to enjoy the 
green fields and fresh air. The railroads also make it pos- 
sible for the farmer to send his produce easily and cheaply to 
the city. 

3. Wagon roads reach nearly all our homes: If you Start 
out to travel over California you will find that roads now lead 
to almost every home. In some places there is such a network 
of roads that it is difficult to keep from getting lost. It is only 
in the rugged mountains that you will find few roads. 

4. Some homes are still reached only by mountain trails: 

Far away in the high mountains are the homes of miners that 
are reached only by trails. The mountain slopes are so steep 
and the canyons so narrow and rocky that it is very difficult 
to build roads to these homes. Trails suitable for horses or 
mules are, however, quite easily made in the roughest country. 
Pack animals will carry often as much as two hundred pounds 
and will follow a trail with perfect safety. 







Homes in the higher and steeper mountains are still reached only by steep 
and narrow trails over which pack animals carry everything that is needed. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 87 

WHY DO WE SPEND SO MUCH MONEY BUILDING ROADS? 

Good highways make it easy for the farmer to go to 
town with his produce. Good highways encourage city people 
to spend more of their leisure in the country. Good high- 
ways attract people who are looking for places for homes. 
People would rather make their homes in a state with good 
highways than in one with poor highways. 

Our state is now building hard smooth highways from 
one end to the other. A branch highway is being built to 
the county seat of each county. The road bed is made of con- 
crete so that traveling is not hindered by mud. 

The Camino Real, meaning "King's highway" is an im- 
portant highway being built along the old road which once 
connected the Missions. The Lincoln highway is another im- 
portant road; it makes automobile travel easy and pleasant 
between California and the Eastern States. 

WHY ARE THE RAILROADS OF GREAT VALUE TO US? 

Perhaps we think railroads are useful chiefly as an aid 
in traveling from one place to another. Railroads have, how- 
ever, a far more important use. Without the railroads our 
state never would have become noted as the land of orchards 
and gardens. Our largest market is far away across the moun- 
tains to the east. To this market the railroads deliver fruit, 
in refrigerator cars, almost as fresh as when it was picked. 
We could not send our fruits to this market by water because 
it would take a much longer time and much of it would spoil 
before it could be sold. 

HOW DO RIVER HIGHWAYS COMPARE WITH RAIL- 
ROADS? 

Trains move faster than boats but it costs more to travel 
upon them. Trains are often delayed by washouts and other 
troubles. The railroad track requires constant care. The 
grading of the railroad bed is expensive. In rough country 
many bridges and tunnels are needed. 

Boats have their highways already made for them. Some- 
times there are rocks and sand bars in the way, but when these 
have been removed water highways need little care. Wher- 
ever there are rapids or waterfalls in a river the journey of 
the. boat is stopped, unless a canal with locks is built around 
them. Boats are not often in danger on the ocean highway 
unless thev are blown too near the land. 



88 



New Progressive Geographies 



Our great water highway is the Pacific Ocean. Next 
comes San Francisco Bay and the streams flowing into it. 
The greatest of all these streams is the Sacramento river. 

WHAT GUIDES US IN CHOOSING ROUTES FOR ROADS 
AND RAILROADS? 

If you want to build a road to your home in the hills you 
look about for the easiest way. .You will, if it is possible, build 

the road around a 
hill rather than go 
over it. If it is 
necessary to cross 
a line of hills you 
look for a low 
place so as not to 
climb any higher 
than is necessary. 
You try to avoid 
rocky . places and 
those where the 
slope is very steep. 
You also try to 
avoid making- anv 
large bridges. 

In building a 
railroad the engi- 
neers seek first a 
route which gives 
a gentle grade so 
that heavy loads 
can be hauled. 
They seek to cross 
rivers where strong 
bridges can be 
built. They some- 
times prefer to 
bore tunnels, miles 
in length, through mountains rather than to climb over their 
tops. If they do have to climb over a range of mountains they 
seek the lowest place just as the man does who builds a wagon 
road. 




Railroads do not stop for mountains but tunnel 
directly through them. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 89 

Another thing that determines where railroads are built 
is the amount of freight and number of passengers to be car- 
ried. Railroads run through rich farming districts, between 
harbors and interior cities, between manufacturing cities, into 
distant mountains where there are important mines and to 
every other place where there is business enough to make 
them pay. 

MOUNTAIN RANGES WERE ONCE DIFFICULT TO CROSS. 

People who came to California in the early days had much 
trouble in crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There were 
rocky ridges and deep canyons in their way. There was also 
the snow, which falls many feet deep on these mountains. 
There are now good roads through some of the lower passes, 
but if you wish to cross over the high passes you will still 
have to go on foot or horseback. 

Some mountain ranges are so difficult to cross that people 
have lived on opposite sides for many years without getting 
acquainted with one another. It was once thought that we 
could never build a railroad over the Sierra Nevada Moun- 
tains, but there are now two railroads that cross them. To 
escape the snow, which would otherwise block the railroads 
in winter, miles of snowsheds have been built. Sometimes a 
tunnel will be made through these mountains to escape the 
heavy grades and the snow. 

CROSSING DESERTS WAS ONCE VERY DANGEROUS. 

To reach California from the East we have to cross hot, 
dry deserts. The first people from the East came with ox 
teams. Many of the animals died in these deserts and some- 
times the people themselves lost their lives. 

In a far-off part of the world camels are used to take 
people and goods across the deserts. These animals are suited 
to the desert for they can go several days without drinking. 
Of all the animals that we have the burros or donkeys are best 
able to stand the dry hot deserts. 

There are a few springs in the desert but they are far 
apart and hard to find. Unless you know the desert and its 
springs you should always carry w r ater when you travel there. 

The worst desert we have in California is Death Valley. 
This is one of the hottest places in all the world. It is called 
Death Valley because people have died there for lack of water. 



90 



New Progressive Geographies 



IT IS SAFER TRAVELING ON THE OCEAN THAN IT 
ONCE WAS. 

The boats used by Columbus when he crossed the ocean 
and discovered America were small and frail. Those used by 
the early explorers who sailed along the rocky shores of Cali- 
fornia were no stronger. The journey by water from San 
Diego to Monterey and San Francisco often took longer than 
the journey by land because of the head wind. It was danger- 
ous also because of the fog, the rocky reefs, and capes without 
any light houses or fog horns. Now we can make this journey 
in safety in a day and night. The great steamers can make 
their way against the fiercest storms. 

WHY IS IT THAT WE DEPEND SO LITTLE UPON PEOPLE 
OF OTHER COUNTRIES FOR OUR SUPPLIES OF FOOD? 

The early Spanish settlers had herds of cattle and sheep 
and cultivated land enough to raise what they needed to eat. 




We find almost every kind of climate in our California home. The sum- 
mit of Mt. Shasta is as cold and snowy as it is in the far north. 
Directly underneath it are mild valleys where berries and 
fruits grow and where stock feed upon green meadows. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 91 

More than this they did not do because there was no market. 
When the gold-hunters came food became scarce and high 
priced. Nearly everything which they needed had to be 
brought by ships, which took months for the passage to Cali- 
fornia. 

How greatly this has all changed. We now grow in 
California nearly every kind of grain, vegetable and fruit 
found in the world. The. only food products which we cannot 
grow are those from the very hot moist parts of the world. 

We could get along very well as far as our food is con- 
cerned if we were shut away from the rest of the world. 

HOW IS IT THAT WE CAN RAISE SUCH A GREAT VARI- 
ETY OF PRODUCTS IN CALIFORNIA? 

1. California has many different kinds of climate: If you 
could travel all over your state in the course of a few hours 
you would wonder greatly at the different kinds of weather 
people were having in different places. If you were on the 
coast on a summer day you would probably have on thick 
clothing. If you traveled inland across the coast mountains 
you would reach the Great Valley where only the lightest of 
clothing would be needed. If on a winter day you journeyed 
from this valley where orange trees were in bloom to the sum- 
mit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains you would find yourself 
in an arctic climate where nothing could grow. If on the 
same day you journeyed southward from the mountains of 
the northern part of the state where there was a heavy snow 
storm, you would at last reach a valley in the far southern 
part where the sun was shining brightly and it was so dry that 
nothing could be grown without irrigation. 

2. Each kind of fruit, grain or vegetable does best in its own 
climate: If you have a garden of your own you will have no- 
ticed that some plants grow thriftily and appear at home while 
others appear stunted and act as if they had a hard time to 
keep alive. This is because the climate and soil of your home 
are suited to some plants but not to all. 

The best apples are raised in a cold climate. Sweet or- 
anges can be grown only in a warm sunny climate. The date 
must have a very hot climate. Beans and beets do best where 
it is not too hot and dry. Melons do best in a hot climate and 
in a light or sandy soil. 

We may conclude, then, that each kind of plant does 



92 



New Progressive Geographies 



best in the soil and climate to which it has become accustomed. 
Our journeys over California have shown us that each place 
with a different climate has different plants. And as there 
are many climates there must be many sorts of plants, many 
kinds of grains, fruits and vegetables. 

HOW IS IT THAT WE CAN OBTAIN THOSE THINGS THAT 
WE DO NOT PRODUCE SO MUCH EASIER THAN THE 
EARLY SETTLERS COULD? 

In the early days there were no means of getting supplies 
across the broad land which lay between California and the 
Eastern States. Boats from around Cape Horn did not arrive 

regularly. Steam- 
ers were few in 
number and it took 
sailing vessels six 
months to make 
the journey from 
New York. 

There are now 
six lines of rail- 
roads entering Cal- 
ifornia. They 
bring the things 
we need from ev- 
ery part of our 
great country. At 
present we do not 
need food products 
as much as we do 
manufactured ar- 
ticles or materials 
for use in manu- 
facturing. 

Fast steamers 
now connect us 
with all parts of 
, . . . , the world. Thev 

This is a scene in the great forest which covers 1 . * 

the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains between bring not SO much 

the hot dry valleys at their base and the cold bar- necessities as thev 

ren summits. Here there is just the right amount ,-*"'. 

of heat and rain to grow dense forests of giant trees. GO luxuries. I ea. 




The Home and Its Relation to the World 93 

coffee, spices and manufactured goods from distant countries 
we could get along without. 

HOW IS IT THAT CALIFORNIA HAS BECOME SO NOTED 
FOR ITS FRUITS? 

We grow many kinds of fruit because we have many 
kinds of climate. But this alone would not make California 
widely known for its fruits. We must in addition be able to 
ship our fruits to those that want them. We have vast fertile 
valleys. We have learned how to take care of the orchards so 
that the fruit is of fine quality. We have learned how to ship 
fresh fruit and to can and dry fruit so that it is pleasant to 
taste. And last of all we have railroads and steamers to carry 
the fruit to any one who wishes to buy. 

IN WHAT DIFFERENT WAYS DO WE DISPOSE OF THE 
GREAT QUANTITIES OF FRUIT GROWN IN CALI- 
FORNIA? 

1. A large amount is eaten at home: The people of Cali- 
fornia have fresh fruit and vegetables all the year around. 
When one sort has ripened and gone another comes in. Be- 
cause fruit is so abundant and cheap we eat more fruit than 
do people in most other countries. 

2. Canning and drying of fruit is an important industry: 
When there is more fruit than can be eaten or shipped to mar- 
ket fresh it is either canned or dried. Thus prepared, fruit 
will keep a long time and can be shipped to the most distant 
countries. California is known all over the world for its 
dried fruits. 

3. Large quantities of fruit are shipped to distant markets 
fresh: Most of our fresh fruit sent to distant markets is car- 
ried by the railroads. Hundreds of trains made up of refrig- 
erator cars filled with fresh fruit and vegetables start for the 
Eastern markets every week. Many of these travel almost as 
fast as express trains. Our California fruit thus reaches mar- 
kets thousands of miles away in as good condition as when it 
was picked. 

WHY ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE EAST SO GLAD TO GET 
OUR PRODUCTS? 

1. The climate of the East is cold: The most important 
fruits that we ship East can grow only in a climate that is mild 
throughout the year. The most important of these fruits is 



94 New Progressive Geographies 

the orange. Then come lemons, grape-fruit, olives, figs and 
grapes. Grapes grow in the Eastern States, but not the sweet 
grape of which we make raisins. Before California had fruit 
to spare the people of the East obtained most of the fruits men- 
tioned from Spain, a country lying far to the eastward across 
the Atlantic Ocean, although some came from Florida. 

2. We have spring fruits and vegetables earlier than the peo- 
ple do in the Eastern and Northern States : Our early cherries and 
apricots find a good market among Eastern people before their 
own fruit is ripe. Thousands of carloads of early melons are 
shipped from Imperial, that hot valley in southeastern Cali- 
fornia. They reach market before those from any other part 
of our country. Many carloads of early asparagus go to the 
East before their asparagus is ready. Celery is also shipped 
East in large quantities. 

3. California ships away a great deal of lumber : The Eastern 
States were once covered with forests, but they have been 
mostly cut away. The climate of many Western States is 
too dry for forest trees to thrive. To all such places Cali- 
fornia exports hundreds of carloads of lumber. Our forests 
will be inexhaustible if we only manage them carefully. 

WE IMPORT FROM OTHER PARTS OF OUR COUNTRY 
SOME THINGS THAT WE MIGHT RAISE. 

Before the planting of our great orchards California was 
noted for its cattle and wheat. Now so much of the land is 
used for other purposes that we do not raise all the beef and 
mutton that we need. We also import ham and bacon from 
the East. Many carloads of chickens are brought here every 
year. We might easily produce all the chickens and eggs that 
we use. Most of our corn comes from the East, although 
we could raise all we needed. We once imported all our cotton 
and rice, but now we have learned that these products thrive 
in California. 

WHAT FOODS USED IN YOUR HOME ARE NOT GROWN 
IN CALIFORNIA? 

Among the most important of those foods that we do not 
raise are tea, coffee, cocoa, cane sugar, tapioca, pineapples, 
bananas and spices. There is not one of all these that we could 
not get along without if we had to do so. Some of these things 
we may be able to grow on a small scale, but the most of them 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 95 

come from hot, moist tropical lands, the climate of which is 
unlike any found in California. 

IN WHAT WAY IS THE SITUATION OF CALIFORNIA FA- 
VORABLE TO GETTING PRODUCTS FROM OTHER 
LANDS? 

California has a long shore line upon the Pacific Ocean. 
Boats can bring, by way of the ocean highway, products from 
every country. We might say that our doors open to all the 
world. There is room in the great bay of San Francisco for 
all the boats of the world to anchor safely and unload their 
cargoes. 

WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT OTHER COUNTRIES FROM 
THE PRODUCTS THEY SEND US? 

1. That some of these countries have a climate much like ours: 
Since each kind of plant does well only in the climate to which 
it is accustomed we can tell something about the climates of 
other parts of the world by the products which they send us. 
There are many fruits and other foods in the markets which 
cannot be grown in the region in which we live, while there 
are some that are sent us because they can be produced cheaper 
in other lands. The orange, lemon, fig and raisin which we 




The Malays live upon the tropical islands southeast of Asia. They do 

not need roads or railroads for they are sea people. Their 

homes are built by or even over the water and all 

their journeys are made in boats. 



96 New Progressive Geographies 

once purchased, tell us that in the distant lands from which 
they came there must be valleys with the same hot climate 
as our valleys. We should expect to find these lands by trav- 
eling easterly or westerly from California. 

2. That some countries are hotter than ours : There are other 
products which we cannot grow in California. From what 
sort of a climate do they come? Among these are pineapples, 
bananas, coconuts, spices, cane sugar, etc. We have tried to 
grow some of these plants in California but we find that the 
air is too dry for them and the winters are too cool. In Cali- 
fornia there are valleys that are very hot in summer, but 
the air is dry, and in winter they are quite cool and frosty. 
Bananas, for example, grow best in a climate that is hot and 
wet the whole year. All the products just mentioned require 
a hot climate and most of them a damp rainy climate. From 
what we know of our California climate we conclude that 
these hot moist lands must lie to the south of us. 

3. That some countries are colder than ours : We find in the 
markets products from the east, the west and the south. The 
dealer says he never gets any from the far north. He says 
farther that he ships to the people living there every kind 
of fruit and vegetable that we raise. We must conclude, then, 
that there are lands where it is too cold for food plants to 
grow. The furs that we wear also tell of cold lands, for it is only 
in such places that animals need warm thick coats. 

WHAT LEADS US TO BELIEVE THAT THE WORLD IS 
VERY LARGE AND CONTAINS MANY COUNTRIES 
WHOSE PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND PLANTS ARE UN- 
LIKE OURS? 

1. People from these lands have visited us and made their 
homes among us: You cannot walk through the streets of any 
town in our state without meeting people who have come here 
from some far distant country. We can tell them by their 
faces, by the unfamiliar language which they speak and by the 
clothing they wear. If you could visit those parts of San Fran- 
cisco inhabited largely by foreigners you might hear fifteen 
or twenty different languages. Some of these people are dark 
skinned. Some have curly hair. Some have broad cheek 
bones and slanting eyes. We have all seen the Chinese with 
their padded garments. The Hindu with his turban, and 
the Turk with his fez. These strange people come from 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



97 



various parts of the world. They have heard how comfort- 
ably we live in this land and how well people are paid for their 
work. Most of them will make their home here, although 
some will go back after a time to their own lands. 

There are so many different countries with their different 
kinds of peoples that the world must be very large to hold 
them all Our land must, then, form but a small part of all the 
land of the earth. 

2. From these far lands we receive strange fruits as well as 
beautiful hand-made articles of every description: 

In the markets we find strange fruits and other food 
products which are not grown in California. In the curio 
shops and museums there are beautiful cloths, laces, pottery, 
delicate porcelains, copper ornaments and wood carvings. 
These things were all patiently made by hand. They come 
from countries where people work for very little and do not 
have the comforts we enjoy. 




A country that is much colder than ours and covered with snow and ice. 

Daring explorers climb the glacier-covered mountains for the 

purpose of making geographical discoveries. 



98 



New Progressive Geographies 



3. Strange animals and birds from these countries are kept 
in menageries and zoological gardens : 

We never miss a chance to see the animals that travel 
around with the circus. They are always interesting because 
they are so different from any that are found in our country. 
There are all sorts from the elephant, camel, giraffe and lion 
down to the little monkey. Many of these animals are hard 
to get and need great care. We must give them the food to 
which they were accustomed when they roamed wild. We must 
protect them as far as we can from our climate, which is very 
different from the climate in the lands from which they were 
taken. How large the world must.be to hold so many different 
animals. 

4. It takes many years for travelers to go through all these 
countries and see the strange sights: 

Those who take journeys through all the different coun- 




This is a banana grove in Central America, one of the countries that is 
warmer and wetter than ours. The bananas are going to be ship- 
ped to some northern land, where it is too cool for 
them to grow, possibly to California. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 99 

tries of the world must travel for years. The people they meet 
in one country are different from the people of every other 
country. They speak a different language, dress differently, 
have different houses, eat different food and have different 
domestic animals. 

If you could visit a great museum you would get some 
idea of the people of various countries of the world without 
having to visit them. In museums we find their clothing, their 
utensils, miniature houses and many other things that tell us 
about their lives. 

THOUGH YOU MAY NEVER TRAVEL FAR OVER THE 
GREAT WORLD YOU CAN LEARN MUCH ABOUT THE 
VARIOUS COUNTRIES AND THEIR PEOPLE FROM 
YOUR OWN HOME. 

1. People clothe themselves to suit the climate in which they 
live: We change our clothing to suit the season of the year. 
During the very warm weather we wear light thin materials, 
usually made of cotton. When the cold weather comes we put 
on heavier woolen clothing. We wear thick shoes and furs 
about our necks. 

People in other parts of the world who live in a climate 
such as ours wear similar materials if they can get them. 
Those who live where it is very cold dress entirely in furs, 
for these offer the best protection. Those who live in hot lands 
where the sun at mid-day stands nearly or quite overhead go 
almost naked. 

2. The materials of our clothing also depend upon what is 
at hand: In the far north the natives wear fur clothing not 
only because it is warm but also because it is the most con- 
venient material at hand. The natives of hot lands make their 
simple clothing out of the fibre of plants that grow about them. 
Those whose chief support is flocks and herds, and who do not 
cultivate the soil make their garments out of wool taken from 
the sheep, goats and camels. Those who live where cotton 
grows depend largely upon this material. Those who grow 
silk worms make a great deal of use of cloth woven of silk. 

3. People build their homes out of materials easiest to get: 
You will not have to travel far in California to find homes 
made out of many different kinds of materials. The old Span- 
ish houses in California are made of adobe or stone. The 
rafters, of hewn beams, support a roof of red tiles. There was 



100 



New Progressive Geographies 



more timber then in our state than there is now, but it could 
not be easily reached. 

In the more remote parts of the mountains homes are made 
of logs and roofed with bark or split lumber called "shakes." 

In most places, 
however, on r 
homes are now 
made of sawed 
lumber, because 
this is the mate- 
rial cheapest and 
easiest to obtain. 
The larger build- 
ings in the cities 
are made of either 
brick, stone or con- 
crete and strength- 
ened with iron 
rods. In one of 
our deserts there 
is a cabin made of 
blocks of rock salt. 
These things 
lead us to expect 
to find homes made 
of different kinds 
of materials in dif- 
ferent parts of the 
world. Some wild 
people still live in 
caves; others in 
trees where they 
are safer from their 
enemies than upon 
the ground. Some 
make their homes 
of frameworks of sticks covered with skins or palm leaves. In 
countries where people constantly wander about their homes 
are tents, which can be easily taken down and moved. The 
Indians live in wigwams, which are formed of poles covered 
with skins. The Esquimaux live in snow homes. 




One of the strange sights in a country on the other 

side of the world. This is the Golden Pagoda 

at Rangoon, Burma. It is made of most 

wonderfully carved wood and is 

full of idols. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



101 



4. People build homes to suit the climate in which they live: 
In cold climates homes are made very warm. Where it is hot 
they are made so that the air can pass freely through them. 
Where it rains homes are made with sloping roofs to shed the 
water. In warm dry lands the roofs are flat and people often 
sleep on them. 

5. Tools and household utensils are made of various kinds of 
materials: In the making of our garden tools iron, steel and 
brass have been used. In your kitchen are dishes of iron, 
copper, tin, brass, aluminum, agate ware, wood and porcelain. 
Here are also baskets woven of different materials. Many 
of the baskets and dishes have not been made in the region 
near us but have been obtained in trade with the people of 
other countries. 

Most of our farm tools were once made of wood because 
long ago iron was much more difficult to get. Now they 
are nearly all made of iron and steel. In some countries 
wooden plows are still used. 

The people of each country have their own peculiar tools, 
dishes and household utensils. If metals are hard to get they 
make their dishes out of baked clay. Among those who have 




Would it not be interesting to travel in China and go through such a won- 
derful gateway as this on your way to visit a temple? 



102 



New Progressive Geographies 



become very skillful in the use of clay are the Chinese and Jap- 
anese, who make beautiful porcelain ware. In those countries, 
where copper and brass can be obtained, wonderfully pleasing 
dishes are made. These dishes are often carved and inlaid 
with other metals and precious stones. We prize very highly 
the finely woven baskets made by the Indians. 

The jewelry that the natives of different countries wear 
is made largely out of the precious stones and metals that they 
find near their homes. In each country, then, not only the ma- 
terials but the style of work done is different. 




The Laplanders of the far North wear fur clothing made from reindeer hides. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



103 



of 



6. The climate determines in part the kind of food that people 
different countries eat: 

What people eat in different 



parts 




The natives of the hot belt wear just as little 
clothing as possible. It is also very convenient not 
to have to wear much clothing where it rains almost 
every day. This woman lives in Southern India where 
it is fashionable to put all one's money into jewelry. 



of the world de- 
pends for the most 
part on the climate. 
Each climate has 
its own plants, its 
own fruits, vege- 
tables and grains. 
Most people eat 
what grows in the 
region in which 
they live. 

In winter our 
diet is different 
from what it is in 
summer. The na- 
tives of the far 
north eat meat, for 
this is best suited 
to their cold cli- 
mate. In summer 
they may be able 
to find berries but 
there are no fruits 
or vegetables such 
as we have. In the 
hot tropical lands 
people live largely 
upon fruits and 
vegetables. Wild 
game is used but 
meat is not needed 
in a hot climate, 
world that have a 



People that live in those parts of the 
climate similar to ours eat much the same food that we do. 

7. Facilities for trade determine in part what we eat : We are 
carrying on trade with all parts of the world. Is it not natural 
that we should take pleasure in exchanging our products for 
the strange and often most delicious products of distant lands ? 
Thus we can go to the market and buy many things raised in 



104 



New Progressive Geographies 



other parts of the world. ■ People who are not civilized and 
do little trading" have to depend on the products that grow 
about them. 

If it were not for the easy railroad and boat transporta- 
tion between Los Angeles and San Francisco the people of the 
former place would have upon their tables every day fruits 
that the people of San Francisco would consider great luxuries. 
If it were not for the railroads fish, so commonly eaten by 
people on the coast, would be rarely seen upon the tables of the 
interior. 

8. People living near a coast have a milder climate than 
those living in the interior: 

Have you not discovered that during the summer it is 
much hotter in the valleys that lie far away from the ocean 
than it is near the shore? People living in the interior go to 
the coast, where it is not so hot, for their vacation. People 




This is a negro village in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. The most 
of the inhabitants are almost naked but several wear white robes which they 
have obtained through trading with the Arabs. They cannot stand upright 
in their huts but have to sit. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



105 



living* upon the coast go to the interior for their vacations 
for the sake of the dry hot air. Upon the coast the climate is 
mild throughout the year. In the interior it is hot during the 
summer and cold during the winter. 

Wherever you travel over the great world you will find 
that the oceans make the climate of those lands bordering 
them milder than the climate of the adjoining interior lands. 

9. Mountains are colder than valleys and more rain or snow 
falls upon them: 

Have you not seen the mountains capped with snow after 
a winter storm while rain fell about your home in the valley? 
Sometimes you can see the clouds gather about the mountains 
and rain or snow fall from them while the sun continues to 
shine in the valley. Sometimes the stream which flows past 
your home becomes a muddy torrent, telling you how heavily it 
must have stormed in the mountains where it rises. 

From what you have seen about your home you may be 
sure that the mountains of other lands are cold and that they 
also form the home of the storms, while the valleys beneath 
are warm and bright. 



:Y'«ii^.'l<l&Vl\ttV*^ 




These negroes of South Africa live in an interesting hut thatched with grass. 
They are weaving huge baskets in which to store grain. 



106 



New Progressive Geographies 



10. People cannot raise the same things on the mountains 
that they can in the valleys: 

Each fruit or vegetable does best, as we have already 
learned, in its own climate. It may live in another climate but 
it will have a hard struggle. And now, since mountains are 
colder and wetter than valleys, we should expect to find the 
people living in them growing different products from those 
living in the valleys. 

If your California home is in a valley you will find on 
going into the mountains that many of the things growing 
there will be quite unlike those with which you are acquainted. 
If your home is among the mountains and you go into the val- 
leys at their foot you will find yourself among different plants. 

Wherever you travel over the world you will find these 
things to be true. If you visit the very hot lands of the south 
where the sun shines fiercely down upon the earth and then 
climb one of the lofty mountains there, you will see a most 
wonderful change in the plants as you go upward. 




People in Western Europe who live in the same belt as ourselves dress in 

much the same manner and engage in the same sorts of work. 

This old lady of Brittany, Western France, is spinning 

just as our grandmothers used to do. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 107 

11. The occupations of mountain people are different from 
those of valley people: 

If you live in one of the valleys of California you know 
that the chief occupation is farming. With the exception of 
those who carry on business in the towns every one is engaged 
in growing something. 

Only a few of the people of the mountains are farmers. 
Many are engaged in mining. Others are cutting down trees 
and turning them into lumber. Some pasture cattle on the 
rocky slopes, for in the valleys land is too valuable to be used 
as a stock range. Wherever you may travel over the earth 
you will find mountain people engaged in many different occu- 
pations most of which are unlike those of valley people. 

12. Forests grow where the rainfall is heavy and it is not too 
cold : 

We have learned that in most of the valleys of our state 
there is not enough rain to make dense forests. As we climb 
the mountains we find that it rains more and we soon reach a 




The climate of Greece is much like that of California. This road-side scene 

shows great olive trees.. In order to use this rocky slope for trees 

the natives have spent an enormous amount of time in 

building terraces with the aid of rock walls. 



108 New Progressive Geographies 

point where there is enough for forests to grow. We may 
wander for miles through the mountains and be in dense for- 
ests all the time except where it is too rocky for trees to 
obtain a foothold. If we continue upwards to the summits 
of the higher mountains we reach a region where the trees dis- 
appear because it is so cold. 

If you should travel to the far north you would, just as 
in climbing the mountains, come to a land where the cold is 
too severe for trees to live. If you should travel to the hot 
lands far to the south where much rain falls you would find 
the forest jungles are so dense that you would have to cut your 
way through them. 

Many parts of the earth have a climate much like that of 
California. Where there are no mountains the whole land may 
be treeless as are the great valleys of our state in which many of 
our homes are situated. But if there are mountains rising from 
the treeless valleys you will find them covered with forests as 
they are in California. 

If, after studying the region in which we live, we travel 
far over the world we can, because of this knowledge of our 
home, tell where to look for forests and where not to expect 
them. 

13. The dry places, or deserts, have their own plants and 
animals : 

Do not think of our California deserts as sandy wastes 
without life for that would not be true. If no rain fell in the 
deserts, then, of course, nothing could live there, but all our 
deserts get some rain. The plants and animals that have taken 
up their homes in the desert have changed their appearance 
and way of living. For this reason the life of the desert seems 
very strange and wonderful. The plants are armed against 
animals and animals are armed against one another, some 
with thorns and some with poison. 

In whatever part of the world we find deserts like our 
own California deserts there we find unusual plants and ani- 
mals. 

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE EARTH IS NOT FLAT 
AS AT FIRST VIEW IT APPEARS TO BE? 

1. We can see more of the earth from the top of a hill or 
mountain : 

If we want to get a good view we climb to some high 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 109 

point. If there is no hill at hand the top of a tall building 
will answer very well. The strange thing about this view is, 
however, that we can see farther over the surrounding country 
than we can from a lower level. 

From the top of a tall building in the San Joaquin valley 
where the land stretches away for many miles almost as level 
as the ocean many things come into view which are not visible 
from the floor of the valley. If you turn now to the sea and 
climb to the top of a high bluff ships which had disappeared 
as you stood oh the beach will again come into view. Sailing 
vessels of which only the tops were visible from near the 
water will from the bluff show their full outlines. 

The only way in which we can explain this curious thing 
is that the earth on which we live is not flat but that it curves 
as does the surface of a ball. 

2. If the world were flat and you traveled away from home 
in a straight line you would never come back again: 

If you started out from home and traveled a crooked road 
you might sometime get back home again no matter what the 
shape of the world were. But if the world were flat and you 
traveled away from home in a straight line you would always 
be getting farther away. You would never reach home again. 
You can understand how this would be by taking a sheet of 
paper and after laying it out flat draw a straight line through 
a point which you might call home. The farther you moved 
along the line the farther you would be from home. 

3. People have often journeyed away from home in one direc- 
tion and after a time have come back from the opposite direction : 

Taking the sheet of paper on which you have drawn the 
straight line roll it up in such a way that the line will run 
around it. The line that was straight is now curved in the 
form of a circle so that the two ends meet. If you now travel 
away from home upon this line and keep going in the same 
direction you will finally come home from the opposite direc- 
tion. If you imagine that this line starts eastward from your 
home and you follow it far enough you will come home from 
the west. 

We must not think, however, that the earth is like this 
cylinder of paper for it makes no difference what direction you 
start out if you keep going straight ahead you will at last 
come back from the opposite direction. 



110 New Progressive Geographies 

We must conclude, then, that the earth is curved in every 
direction. These journeys do not prove that the earth is ex- 
actly round like a ball, for if it were shaped like an egg you 
could travel around it just the same. But it is true that the 
earth is shaped almost exactly like a ball. By and by you will 
learn how it is that we know the earth is a ball. 

HOW DOES THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SUN TEACH US 
THAT THE EARTH IS ROUND? 

As we go north or south the sun seems to change its 
position in the sky. Find your California home upon a large 
globe. Now place something to represent the sun in such a 
position that it will shine on your home from the same direc- 
tion as the real sun shines on our real homes. Each day as you 
travel north upon the globe the sun will appear lower in the sky 
until it finally disappears. 

Now if you start south from home the sun will become 
higher until it stands overhead. If you continue the sun will 
finally be at your back and become lower day by day until it is 
no longer .to be seen during any part of the day. These jour- 
neys prove that the earth is not flat but has a curved surface. 

THE SUN AND STARS TEACH US THAT THE EARTH 
MOVES. 

It was once thought that the earth stood still and that 
the sun went around it. People did not understand that if 
the earth were flat and extended away without any end that 
the sun could not go around it. Now that we know the earth 
is round like a ball we can easily understand how the sun 
appears to rise and set as the earth ball turns around. If 
you will watch the stars some night you will see that they 
also rise, move across the sky and set in the same way that the 
sun does. 

The length of time that it takes the earth to turn com- 
pletely around we call a day. We have divided the day into 
twenty-four hours, and the hours into minutes and seconds. 
It is always day on the half of the earth next the sun and night 
on the other half. 

2. What do we mean by the axis of the earth? All orange 
with a needle stuck through it will aid us in understanding 
what we mean by the axis of the earth. The earth turns just 
as the orange does around the needle but the earth has no 
real axis. We must think of it merely as a line. The points 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 111 

where the imaginary axis or line comes out to the surface 
we call the poles. One we call the north pole because it points 
towards the north; the other we call the soutli pole and it 
points toward the south. Men struggled for years to reach 
the poles, but since they lie in regions of perpetual cold and ice 
it was a long time before they succeeded. 

3. If the earth did not journey around the sun there would 
be no winter and summer: 

When the days are short and the sun rises only a little 
more than half way up the sky we get the least heat "from it 
and we say that winter has come. When the sun rises highest 
in the sky and the days are long and hot we say it is summer. 
The time from the middle of one winter to the middle of an- 
other we call a year. There are three hundred and sixty-five 
days in a year. 

Now why is it that the sun appears to change its path 
in the sky as summer gives place to winter and winter to 
summer? If the earth as it turns around stood upright on 
its path as does the top as it spins there would be no summer 
or winter. But as it happens the axis on which the earth 
turns or spins is inclined. And since the axis points in the 
same direction during the whole year you can readily see by 
carrying a globe around an imaginary sun why it is that the 
position of the sun seems to change. This explains why the 
sun is low in the sky at noon of a winter day and high at 
noon of a summer day. 

THE MOON GOES AROUND THE EARTH. 

While it takes the earth a year to go around the sun the 
moon goes around our earth in a little less than one of our 
months. If there were people on the moon their year would 
be very short. The moon's days are, however, very long, since 
the "Man in the Moon" always turns his face toward us. How 
hot the moon's long clays must become, and how cold the long 
nights. People made as Ave are could not live on the moon, 
for during the day they would almost burn up, while at night 
everything must be frozen. 

THE SUN HAS A GREAT DEAL TO DO WITH THE CLI- 
MATE WE ENJOY. 

1. How does the position of the sun and the climate change 
as we go north or south? 

Each succeeding day as we journey northward the sun 



112 



New Progressive Geographies 



appears lower in the sky at noon. The air becomes colder. 
The plants become more scanty. Finally we reach the north 
pole where the north star appears overhead, and, upon the 21st 
of September and the 22nd of March, when the days and nights 
are of equal length over the earth, to the south of us, the sun 
just peeks over the horizon. Ice and snow lie everywhere and 
there is no living thing in sight besides ourselves. 

From home we now journey southward. The sun rises 
higher. The air becomes more sultry. Finally the sun is 
directly overhead at noon. Because of the heat and moisture 
the earth is covered with such a dense forest jungle that we 
can scarcely move about without cutting a path through it. 
Here in the hot belt it is always summer. 

2. How does the sun appear as we journey east or west? 
The people north of us get less warm sunshine; the people 
south of us get more. If now we travel east or west what 
can we learn about the sun? We discover that the sun rises 
in the same position that it does at home, and that it climbs to 
the same height in the sky. 




In the warm lands of the south the natives do not worry much about cloth- 
ing or how they eat. This is a wayside restaurant where chairs and 
table are not needed. Notice the water-carrier in the background. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



113 



Some places that we come to are warmer than our home 
and some are colder, but this difference is not due to the sun. 
We know that some days of summer are very cool at home 
if the wind blows off the cool ocean, and that some days are 
very hot if the wind blows from the land. Thus when jour- 
neying east or west around the world we find that the sun 
behaves just as it does at home. If we find it very cold or 
very hot in any place it is because of other things than the posi- 
tion of the sun. 

WE LEARN FROM OUR CALIFORNIA HOME THAT THE 
SUN IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT DETERMINES 
THE CLIMATE IN WHICH PEOPLE LIVE. 

1. By climbing to the summits of our high mountains we find 
a climate as cold as in the far north: 

Did you ever think that here in California there are places 
as cold as those which we would finally reach if we traveled 
for weeks toward the north? Wherever in our journeys we 
have traveled over mountains we have found the climate much 
colder than in the valleys at their base. We see orange blos- 
soms in our own California valleys in the middle of winter 




In North Germany it is colder and wetter than in California because it is 

farther north. Note the roof thatched with straw and the strange 

caps worn by the women. The people of each country 

have their own national costume. 



114 New Progressive Geographies 

while the mountain tops above these valleys are white with 
snow. As we stand in the ice and snow among the rocks of 
the mountain tops it is easy to believe if it were not for the 
position of the sun that we are in the arctic regions of the far 
north. 

2. Journeying eastward in summer we come to valleys as hot 
as those along the equator under the vertical sun: 

We all know how cool the climate is along our California 
coast. If we become tired of the fog and chill we do not have 
to go southward in order to find a warm place. Our journeys 
have shown that it does grow hotter toward the south, but 
we can find as hot a place as we wish even in California. All 
we have to do is to leave the coast and travel eastward to the 
far inland valleys. By the time we have passed the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains we are in valleys where the heat is almost 
unbearable. The air seems like the breath out of an ©ven. 
The sun rises no higher in the sky than it did on the coast 
but the mountains stop the cool winds that blow from the ocean 
and the sun has everything its own way. 

3. By journeying eastward in winter we come to lands much 
colder than are our California valleys: 

If we leave our homes upon a winter day when roses are 
blooming in the gardens and travel eastward toward New 
York we shall soon get into a land where it is so cold that we 
must put on the thickest clothing. The air is sharp with frost 
and unless we are careful we shall freeze our noses and ears. 
The days are no shorter than they are at home, neither is the 
sun any lower in the sky. What is the reason, then, for this 
great cold? 

If we trace our journey upon a map of North America we 
shall find that the cold was greatest where we were farthest 
from the ocean. The winds that blow past our homes in Cali- 
fornia come from the ocean, which does not cool in the winter 
as does the land. For this reason the winters at home are mild 
while those far in the interior of the continent where the mild 
winds do not reach become very cold. 

WHAT, NOW, ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS THAT 
WE HAVE LEARNED FROM OUR JOURNEYS? 

1. That belts of sunshine run around the earth in an east and 
west direction: 

If we start from a home here in California and go east 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 115 

or west the days will continue to be of the same length. The 
sun will appear to rise in the same direction, reach the same 
height in the sky at noon and set in the same direction. If 
people who live to the north or south of us journey east or west 
they will also find the days and nights the same length as those 
of their homes, but these days and nights will be different from 
ours. 

2. Belts of heat and cold run around the earth in an easterly 
and westerly direction but are very crooked: 

The belts of sunshine run east and west and we may 
think that the belts of heat and cold ought to do the same, but 
they do not. We have learned that the ocean warms the air 
that blows across it in winter and cools it in summer. We 
have learned that the air becomes very cold where it rises to 
pass over mountains. We have learned that in the valleys 
which are shut away from the ocean by mountains the air be- 
comes very hot in summer. We have learned that lands lying 
very far from the ocean are hot in summer and cold in winter. 
These things keep the belts of heat and cold from following 
the sun and make them very crooked. If you wished to travel 
from San Francisco to New York and follow a belt in which 
the temperature was the same all the way you would have to 




Winter is the best time to travel in the far north for then the dogs can drag 

the sled easily over the rivers and lakes as well as the land. 

In summer the lowlands are wet and marshy. 



116 New Progressive Geographies 

take a very crooked route. If you did not care about the tem- 
perature but wished the same amount of sunlight your journey 
would follow a due east course. 

3. That far north of California is the cold Arctic belt: If we 
travel north from California in winter until the sun no longer 
rises above the horizon we reach the edge of the Arctic belt. 
During the winter it is night most of the time. No living thing 
is to be seen. The cold is very great. 

The short warm summer finally comes. The days become 
very long and for some weeks the sun does not set. The 
"Midnight Sun" is a wonderful sight. Tiny plants spring 
up. Birds come from the south to nest. The air, the water 
and the land seem full of life. 

The Esquimaux who live in the cold belt have a hard 
struggle to get food and clothing and to keep from freezing 
to death in the long dark winter. 

4. That south of California is the hot or tropical belt where 
it is summer all the time : 

South' of us is a belt where it never grows cold and where 
the sun always stands almost or quite overhead in the middle 
of the day. It is so hot in this belt and there is so much moist- 
ure in the air that we are quite uncomfortable. People from 
the cold belt find it difficult to live here and keep their health. 

The dense forests are alive with birds of brilliant plumage. 
Snakes and poisonous insects hide in the underbrush and the 
water swarms with living things. In the hot belt people do 
not have to work much for Nature grows many sorts of fruits 
and vegetables with little care from men. 

5. That California lies between the very cold and the very 
hot belts : 

We have learned of the cold belt north of us where in the 
winter the sun does not shine for months. We have learned 
of the belt south of us where the sun stands overhead at noon 
throughout the year. California lies between the very hot and 
the very cold belts. Although parts of California are very 
warm and other parts very cold, yet the greater part has a 
medium temperature. Hence we say that California lies in the 
temperate belt. The people that live in the temperate belt can 
do the most work; they have the most agreeable climate, the 
greatest variety of food and the most comfortable homes. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 117 

6. That each belt has its own animals and plants: In the 
warmer part of the cold belt there are vast numbers of fur- 
bearing animals and forests of pine and fir. In the warmer 
parts of the temperate belt the forests consist mostly of trees 
that shed their leaves in winter, such as the oak, maple and 
the nut-bearing trees. In the hot belt are palms, giant ferns 
and valuable hardwoods. In the hot belt we find many great 
animals, such as the lion, elephant, giraffe, camel, etc. 

7. That the natives of each belt differ in dress, food and habits: 
Our ancestors were natives of the temperate belt. They as 
well as most of the other inhabitants of the temperate and 
cold belts are light skinned. The natives of the hot belt are 
darker skinned and some are almost black. 

The people of the white race are most highly civilized. 
They are very energetic. They have made many inventions 
and have carried on trade with all parts of the world. They 
have gone to the coldest parts of the earth to mine gold, they 
have gone to the tropics to raise pineapples, coffee, bananas, 
and to get rubber. They have gone into the swamps and des- 
erts for the treasures they contain. 

Into whatever belt the people of the white race go they 
must live in that belt as the natives do. In the far north their 




The elephant's home is in the hot belt. The people there train them to work 
and it is remarkable what they can be taught to do. These ele- 
phants are piling teak logs in Rangoon, Burma. 



118 



New Progressive Geographies 



diet must be largely meat. In the hot south they must eat 
mostly fruit and vegetables. Wherever we go we must adapt 
ourselves to the climate and other demands of that place if we 
would be happy and comfortable. 

8. That our California home has within it nearly all the differ- 
ent climates of the world: 

California is a wonderful state. The relief model has told 
us that it is made up of mountains and valleys. We know from 
what we have seen of different places that some are very hot 
and some very cold. We know that a great deal of rain falls 
in the north and very little in the valleys of the south. We 
know that the winds generally blow from the ocean but that 
they often come from other directions. The ocean winds are 
cool and moist. The land winds are dry, being cold in winter 
and hot in summer. 

In hunting for a home we can find in California any sort 
of a place that we wish. Our California home is almost a 
little world in itself. If it were necessary we could get along 
without the products of any outside people. But I am sure 
we will all say that it is much better to have all the. dealings 
we can with the people around us. In the interchange of prod- 




Sheep are found all the way around the world in the belt we live in (temper- 
ate belt). This is an English farm scene showing the thatched buildings. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 1 19 

ucts we have an opportunity to learn about them and to obtain 
anything good that they have. 

WHAT ADVANTAGES HAS OUR STATE FOR TRADING 
WITH OTHER COUNTRIES? 

Find California upon the globe and you will see that it 
lies upon the Pacific, the greatest of all the oceans. All about 
the borders of this ocean are many countries, the most of which 
do not grow the same things that we do. By sailing southeast 
or southwest from San Francisco you will see from the globe 
that vessels can leave the Pacific, and by means of other oceans 
reach all the lands of the earth. California has, then, the 
whole earth for a market. A boat sailing from California can 
take our products very cheaply to any one who wants them. 
The ships can bring back the natural products and beautiful 
articles of hand manufacture of distant peoples. We might say 
that the front door of California opens on all the world. 

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT BARRIERS ONCE SEPARATED 
CALIFORNIA FROM THE EASTERN STATES. 

As we study the globe the eastern part of our country does 
not seem so very far away. Yet California was once more 
difficult to reach from New York than India is now. Find 
India in southern Asia and show that this is true. 

People once thought it would be impossible ever to build 
a railroad across the rugged mountains and hot dry deserts. 
Now there are five railroads making the journey to the East 
short and comfortable. The thousands of carloads of fruit 
sent to the great eastern markets are bringing prosperity to 
the people of California. 

A VERY LONG SEA VOYAGE WAS ONCE NEEDED TO 
REACH OUR STATE FROM THE EAST. 

Before the railroads were built all the supplies needed in 
California came by water. As the most of these supplies 
were produced near the Atlantic coast of our country a long 
ocean voyage was necessary. Trace the journey on the globe 
and you will see that it is equal to about two-thirds of the dis- 
tance around the world. Most of the ships making the voyage 
were sailing vessels. They had to pass through belts of calms 
in the tropics, through belts where gentle winds, called the 
trade winds, blew every day, and regions of almost constant 
storms. 



120 New Progressive Geographies 

You will see from the globe that the direction sailed from 
New York was southerly across the hot belt, then through the 
south temperate belt until the southern point of South America 
was reached. Many boats were wrecked in rounding stormy 
Cape Horn. From here they turned north and then northwest, 
crossing the hpt belt again, and finally reaching San Francisco 
in the north temperate belt. The voyage often took six 
months. It was possible to ship only such foods as would 
stand the long exposure. In those days there were no refrig- 
erators. 

THE PANAMA CANAL IS OF VERY GREAT VALUE TO 
CALIFORNIA. 

The globe tells us that the voyage from New York to San 
Francisco by the Panama Canal is only about one-third of the 
distance around Cape Horn. Although to reach the Panama 
Canal we have to go into the hot belt, yet we escape the dan- 
gerous storms met in rounding South America. 

The canal does not interfere with the usefulness of the 
railroads. - Most people and all perishable freight go by the 
railroads. We send by the canal cheap heavy articles for 
which we are in no hurry. We use the canal also for fruit and 
grain which are going to Europe. 

HOW IS IT THAT NEARLY ALL OUR FOREIGN TRADE 
IS CARRIED ON THROUGH SAN FRANCISCO? 

1. The harbor of San Francisco is the best of any upon the 
Coast of California: 

Where can we find a better harbor than that of San 
Francisco? It has a narrow entrance which protects it from 
ocean storms. The water is deep enough for the largest boats. 
There is room for the ships of the whole world. There are 
many miles of shore along which wharves, warehouses and fac- 
tories can be built. 

2. San Francisco is at the outlet of a river basin which includes 
about half of California: 

Trace upon a map of California the boundary of all the 
land that slopes toward San Francisco Bay. If you had a 
store anywhere within this area and wished to buy goods do 
you not think that San Francisco would be the best place to 
go for them? If you had grain and canned or dried fruit to 
ship abroad would not San Francisco be the best place to send 
them ? 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 121 

3. Railroads connect San Francisco with all parts of the 
United States: 

The people that live about the shores of the Pacific Ocean 
need many of our products, one of the most important of which 
is cotton. Railroads connect San Francisco with the great 
cotton growing districts of the Southern States as well as with 
other portions of our country. Whatever we have to sell is 
collected at San Francisco, from which it is distributed by boat 
to distant lands. 

TRACE THE WATER ROUTES UPON THE GLOBE BY 
WHICH WE COULD SHIP WHEAT TO ENGLAND BE- 
FORE THE BUILDING OF ANY CANALS. 

We might sail southwesterly across the Pacific Ocean, 
passing north of Australia, through the Indian Ocean until 
rounding Cape of Good Hope at the southern point of Africa 
we would reach the Atlantic Ocean. Then sailing north- 
westerly and finally northerly through the Atlantic England 
would be reached. 

We might sail in a direction a little east of south along 
the eastern border of the Pacific Ocean until passing Cape 



The grain ship which we have followed to England will probably go up the 

Thames River to London. The children play "London Bridge 

is falling down" but the real London Bridge as you 

see in this picture is very strong. 



122 



New Progressive Geographies 



Horn at the southern end of South America the Atlantic 
Ocean would be gained. Then a very long almost straight 
voyage would bring our wheat-laden ship to England. Which 
route do you think is the safer? Which do you think is the 
longer ? 

TRACE UPON THE GLOBE THE ROUTES BY WHICH 
WHEAT COULD GO TO ENGLAND AFTER THE DIG- 
GING OF THE SUEZ AND PANAMA CANALS. 

Find upon the globe the narrow neck of land connecting 
Asia and Africa. Across this neck of land, through a sandy 
desert the Suez Canal was dug connecting the Red Sea with the 
Mediterranean. 

Find upon the globe the neck of land connecting North 
and South America. At the narrowest point the Panama 
Canal was dug. This canal was more difficult than the Suez 
Canal because a line of hills had to be crossed. Deep cuts 
were made and as they would have had to be too deep for 
boats to go through at sea level locks were built. 

The Suez Canal saves the long voyage around Africa. 
Thus after crossing the Pacific Ocean and passing the south- 
ern points of Asia our boat would continue westerly across the 




Street of a village in a coconut grove. This tall palm supplies the natives 
with almost everything that they need. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 123 

northern part of the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea. After 
passing the Suez Canal its course is still toward the west 
through the whole length of the Mediterranean sea and the 
Strait of Gibraltar to the Atlantic Ocean. A short voyage 
northward and England is reached. 

Most boats would probably prefer to take the route by 
the Panama Canal because it is shorter. Sailing southeasterly 
from San Francisco along the west coast of North America 
the canal is reached. Passing through the canal we enter 
the Caribbean Sea. The ship now turns toward the north- 
east across this sea and leaving the West India Islands be- 
hind has a long straight voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to 
England. 

WHY CAN WE NOT REACH ENGLAND BY SAILING TO 
THE NORTH OF NORTH AMERICA? 

Long ago when our continent was little known the people 
of Europe sought a more direct route to India and the Isles 
of the South Seas than that around the south of South 
America. For years explorers made every effort to sail 
around North America on the north. But after many had 
lost their lives in the ice the attempt was given up. 




Coral beach and coconut grove on the Island of Ceylon. Some of the nuts 
may drop into the water and be carried far away to another island. 
When thrown up on the beach by the waves the nuts 
will sprout and form a new grove. 



124 New Progressive Geographies 

From the map it appears very easy to sail northwest 
from San Francisco over the Pacific Ocean, through Behring's 
Sea and into the Arctic Ocean, and then turning easterly 
among the islands reach the Atlantic Ocean. But whalers 
that visit this region tell us of the vast frozen ocean to the 
north of America where it is rarely possible to go with boats 
even in summer. 

SHIPS BRING THE PRODUCTS OF MANY LANDS TO THE 
WHARVES OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

1. The home of the coconut: Before us is a pile of coco- 
nuts just unloaded from a ship. Their hairy shells do not look 
at all inviting, but we know that within each there is a cupful 
of a pleasant tasting milky fluid and a layer of solid white 
meat which is very good to eat. When shredded and dried 
it is often used in cake or candy. When treated in another 
way an oil valuable in soap making is obtained, while what 
is left is made into meal and fed to cows. Let us follow the 
coconuts back to their island home in the Pacific Ocean 
where the sun at noon stands directly overhead and it is sum- 
mer all the year around. 

The tall coconut palms love the lowlands of the tropic 
islands. They love the hot moist air in which we so very 
quickly become weary and lose our energy. The palms grow 
so thickly that some are crowded down to the very edge of 
the ocean. Many of the nuts drop where the waves reach 
them and are carried away by the currents. The shell is so 
tight that the germ within it is not injured by the salt water. 
Because of this the nuts that by chance are washed up on 
some distant shore may sprout and take root ; in this way most 
of the islands of the hot belt have become covered with for- 
ests of palms. 

From the coconut the dark skinned people, who live in 
these tropical islands, are supplied with something to eat and 
drink wherever they may journey in their canoes. Sailors 
wrecked upon the shores where the palm trees grow need not 
die of thirst or hunger. 

So valuable is the coconut palm that the natives of the 
hot belt could not do without it. Here in our own homes we 
should greatly miss the coconut and its products. Let us 
now visit one of the islands of the Pacific and learn more 
about the palm trees and the people that live among them. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 125 

We sail for days toward the south over the blue ocean 
until the air grows very warm and the sun stands overhead 
at noon. Finally a dark line appears upon the horizon. This 
line grows more and more distinct until we are near enough to 
see that it is a vast forest of palms. 

Soon we can see the beach of coral sand and the harbor 
we are going to enter. The boat moves very slowly until the 
captain finds the channel through the reef upon which the 
waves are breaking. This is a coral island built up by the 
tiny insects that made the beautiful pink coral of the necklaces 
in the shop windows and the delicate clusters of white stems 
of many kinds to be seen in museums. All about the islands 
countless numbers of these little creatures are at work. They 
leave their coral skeletons behind them as they grow upward 
toward the surface of the ocean. Thus year by year they 
make the waters around the island more shallow and danger- 
ous to navigate. It is no wonder that the captain watches the 
channel carefully for the coral rock could easily tear a hole in 
the bottom of the ship. 

The opening in the reef is finally passed and the boat 
glides into the quiet water behind it. Now beneath us appear 
water gardens more wonderful than anything we have ever 
dreamed of. There are beautiful flower-like corals of every 
color, there are fish of many colors and shapes, and crabs and 
shells in an endless variety. 

We land and climb up the beach into a forest of palms 
and soon come to a native village. It contains but one long 
street over which hang graceful palms. The street is full of 
dark-skinned almost naked people. They wear as little cloth- 
ing as possible and are thus far more comfortable than we 
are. They are not afraid of the sun, and the rain that falls 
nearly every day runs off their bodies as water does off a 
duck's back. 

The frames of their one-story homes are made of the 
trunks of the palm. The thatch of the roof is made of palm 
leaves. The walls are formed of leaves woven into a kind of 
matting. On the floors are thick mats made of the husks of 
the coconuts, while the ropes are made of the same material. 
The hard shell is used as a drinking cup and for many other 
purposes. Thus we see the coconut palm is a very important 
tree. The natives count their wealth bv the number of coco- 



126 



New Progressive Geographies 



nut trees which they own. Without the coconut palm many 
of the islands would be uninhabitable. 

The business of gathering and shipping coconuts and 
the dried meat or copra in the East Indies and adjoining 
islands is a very important one. Here in San Francisco we 
get the fresh coconuts, the dried meat from which a valuable 
oil is obtained and door mats made of the husks. 

2. Where does olive oil come from? Olive oil is made in 
California you say. That is very true, but not all the oil that 
we use is made here. Before us are two cases of oil that have 
just been unloaded from a freight car. Each of these is 
marked in a different foreign language. Let us discover if 
we can from what lands the oil was shipped. 

The olive is not a native of California but was brought 
from a distant land across the ocean. We have already learned 
that each kind of plant thrives only in the climate to which 
it is accustomed. We have also learned that there are belts 
of climate that extend around the earth in an easterly and 
westerly direction. Because of these things we conclude that 
to find the old home of the olive tree we must go neither to 




In Spain it is easier to get goat's milk than it is cow's milk. This man drives 

his flock of goats through the streets and milks at 

each door the amount wanted. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



127 



the north north nor to the south but in an easterly or westerly 
direction. 

Crossing the United States on the cars we take a steamer 
from New York and sail easterly across the Atlantic Ocean. 
The first land we reach is a large peninsula forming the 
southwestern portion of Europe. This is the country of Spain 
from which came one of the cases of olive oil. 

How familiar the name Spain sounds. Our history stories 
tell of the Spanish Padres who first explored the region where 
we live and called it California. From their home in Spain the 
Padres brought the semi-tropic fruits that now make Cali- 
fornia so famous. Among these fruits were the olive, orange, 
lemon, fig and grape. 

We will land at Gibraltar, beneath a great rock that 
guards the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Traveling 
inland we come upon the familiar sight of orange groves. 
We pass through forests of cork oak from the bark of which 
is made the cork for our bottles. There are piles of bark suf- 
ficient to load a ship. 

The farther we go the more hilly the land becomes and 




This is a Spanish peasant and his family just in from the country for sup- 
plies. The donkey does all the hard work in Spain and 
often does not get enough to eat. 



128 



New Progressive Geographies 



we soon reach the home of the olive for which we are seeking. 
Here are vast orchards covering the slopes as far as we can 
see. Reaching the mountains we find a climate too cool for 
the olive. Behind the mountains there are dry valleys and 
plateaus like those we are familiar with in parts of our Cali- 
fornia home where the weather is dry and cool. 

Although the climate and products of Spain are very 
much like California the people are different. The) 7 dress 
differently and live differently. The people in this land so 
like ours should be happy and prosperous, but alas from what 
we can see they appear to be very poor. 

The land has been cultivated so carelessly for hundreds 
of years that now it produces very light crops, and it is all 
that the farmers can do to make a bare living. Nearly all 
the forest trees that once covered the country have been cut 
down and none have been set out in their places. The water 
now runs rapidly off the slopes, carrying the best of the soil 
with it. The fuel is so scarce that none can be used in stove 
or fireplace. Although the winter nights are cold in the high- 
lands of Spain all the fuel the people can afford to buy is a 
little charcoal with which to do their cooking. Such is a 




When we go to Italy we are sure to get all the macaroni we want. This is 
a shop where it is being made and hung up to dry. 



The Home and Its Relaiion to the World 



129 



picture of the country from which we obtained our most 
valuable fruits. 

We will now return to the steamer and continue our jour- 
ney toward the land from which the other case of olive oil 
came. Passing through the Strait of Gibraltar the steamer 
enters the Mediterranean Sea and holds an easterly course 
until a mountainous land rises ahead. This is a long narrow 
peninsula extending into the sea. You can easily find this upon 
the globe because it has the shape of a boot. 

This land is known as "Sunny Italy" because of its pleas- 
ant climate. We know what this name means because our 
own California is sometimes called "The Land of Sunshine." 
Since the climate is like that of our own we are not surprised 
at the sight of groves of orange and lemon trees. 

Which ever way we turn, olive trees are to be seen and 
it is no wonder that the Italians, although they use olive oil in 
much of their food, have, in addition, large quantities left to 
sell to people of other lands. 




The happy children of Sunny Italy out for a holiday ride. The gaily deco- 
rated cart and horse is such as we see in Palermo 
on the island of Sicily. 



130 



New Progressive Geographies 



The forests here have been destroyed as they have been 
in Spain and the country is the poorer for this waste. One 
of the most abundant trees still remaining is the chestnut, 
for the Italian is very fond of the nuts. The cutting" down of 
the trees has led to the washing of so much soil from the moun- 
tain slopes that many of the bays where long ago ships used 
to anchor are now green meadows where cattle graze. 

Italy is so filled with people that it is difficult for them 
all to make a living and that is one reason why so many of 
them have come to our country. 

3. A Ship from India: What can this ship from India be 
loaded with? We picture in our minds all sorts of beautiful 
things made in that far away mysterious land which forms one 
of the southern tips of Asia. 

But how disappointed we are upon discovering that in- 
stead of silks, precious stones, jewels, copper vases and rugs 
the ship carries merely jute and tea. What common looking 
material this jute is when woven into what we ordinarily call 
burlap or sacking. But to the farmer who needs bags for his 




A wayside shop in India. Mats woven of palm leaves protect from sun and 

rain. The people do not know what chairs are but squat 

on the ground to rest. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



131 



barley, wheat or beans the coming of a ship loaded with jute is 
an important thing. 

Jute is made of the fibre of tropical plants that grow in 
India. Jute and tea form the two most important articles 
that we import from that country. We must not think, how- 
ever, that these are the only important products of India. 
There are others that we shall have to journey to that distant 
land to find out about. In the shops of India we shall find 
the beautiful things of which we have dreamed. We shall see 
the great temples and tombs. We shall see the car of the idol 
Juggernaut with its huge wheels in front of which the natives 
used to throw themselves during religious festivals. 

India is a great land containing more than three times the 
number of people that our own country does. It is very hot in 
summer except in the far northern part where rise the Hima- 




This is an Irish home. The walls of the house are made of plastered stone 

while the roof is covered with straw thatch and built steep to shed the 

rain. It rains so much in Ireland that the country is always green 

and for that reason it has been called the "Emerald Isle." 



132 



New Progressive Geographies 



layas, the highest mountains in the world, whose summits are 
always white with snow. 

Since the products of India which reach our shores are 
not as interesting as the people, let us try to learn what we can 
about them. To see the poor Hindus wandering through the 
streets of our towns or trying to handle a pick and shovel 
we would not think that they amounted to much as workers in 
their Indian home. We shall see, however, that they have done 
many wonderful things. 

There are so many people in India that some of them 
never get enough to eat and during famines thousands starve. 
Their religion tells them that it is wicked to kill anything and 
so they do not eat meat. This is perhaps one of the reasons 
why the Hindus appear so frail and spindling and are of little 
value as laborers. 

The sights in an Indian city are strange and interesting. 
The poorer people are scantily dressed, but such clothing as 
they have is usually brightly colored. The little children are 
almost naked. How pretty a crowded street looks with the 
many bright costumes. Each street has its own particular 
business. One is devoted to making of copper dishes. An- 
other is given up to the silk merchants. A third is occupied 




The water buffalo is employed in India to do all the kinds of work for which 

we use the horse. The wooden cart upon which the Hindu driver is 

sitting looks very clumsy but will carry a heavy load. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



133 



by the grain market. People pass by loaded with all sorts 
of goods. Here is a man with a huge brass dish on his head. 
There a woman is carrying a load of water jars to sell in the 
market. Now a number of men go by with jars of water sus- 
pended from a pole over their shoulders. Yonder two women 
are turning a hand-mill made of two great stones, and grinding 
the meal for their supper. 

A strange sort of wagon comes along the street drawn 
by a camel. Next a four-wheeled wagon with a canopy ap- 
pears drawn by two white hump-backed oxen. Inside the cur- 
tains are some rich women hidden from the gaze of the people 
of the streets for they are Mohammedans. 

Now a procession of gorgeously decorated elephants 
comes down the street and everybody makes room for them. 
A man sits on the head of each animal guiding him with a 
stick and uttering cries which we do not understand. Behind 
the driver on the back of the leading elephant sits an Indian 




These Egyptians are going home from work in their fields. The men are 

riding the camels and the women are walking and carrying the 

loads. Is this the way we do in our country? 



134 



New Progressive Geographies 



prince richly dressed, while his servants follow upon the other 
elephants. 

We will turn now toward one of the many temples and 
soon even more interesting sights meet our eyes. We come 
upon holy men, priests and pilgrims from all parts of India. 
Some are poor and dirty. Others, almost naked, have freshly 
oiled bodies and strange marks painted upon their foreheads. 

Now a sacred cow comes along the street with a wreath 
of flowers hanging from her horns. She stops to eat at a 
vegetable stand but the owner dares not drive her away for 
she is sacred. In fact he feels honored by the visit of the 
cow. The animal enters the temple door and wanders through 
the court while more wreaths are thrown over her head. 

In the entrance hall of the temple is a hideous idol with 
candles burning about it, while upon the floor are stains which 
make us think some animal has been sacrificed there. In the 
court is a pool of water where the pilgrims bathe. Monkeys 
chase each other about the roof of the temple and come troop- 
ing down when the priest calls. They know that his call means 




This is a richly carved Hindu temple in Calcutta, India. Under the little 
pavilion we see an image of the sacred elephant with figures on 
its back. Hindu temples are always filled with idols 
of their different gods. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



135 



that some pilgrim has done a good act by purchasing grain for 

them to eat. 

We next go down to the Ganges river where all good 

pilgrims bathe before returning home. If they die near the 

river their bodies 
are burned and 
their ashes are 
thrown into the 
water. Steps lead 
down to the water 
from the different 
temples in this holy 
city of Benares so 
that the people can 
bathe easily. Here 
and there under 
great parasols sit 
priests who paint 
the caste marks on 
the foreheads of 
the devotees. There, 
is no such wonder- 
ful sight to be 
found elsewhere in 
all the world. 

Now having had 
a glimpse of an In- 
dian city with its 
street life, and its 
temples we will go 
to our hotel and 
drink a cup of the 
famous Ceylon tea. 




This woman of Java is tapping a rubber tree. The This tea does not 
milky sap can be seen gathering at the bottom. ,, . 

grow upon the hot 
plains of India but upon the moist mountain sides. Before the 
tea plants can be set out the dense tropical jungle has to be 
cleared away. Every one drinks tea in this hot and sickly land 
for unboiled water is not fit to use. 

Having finished our tea we will go shopping in the 
bazaars. Here we can see the beautiful silks, ivory carvings, 



136 



New Progressive Geographies 



precious stones, jewelry and brass ware that we looked for 
but did not find upon the boat unloading at San Francisco. 

4. We find rubber and coffee from Java but none from South 
America: Hunting along the wharves we come across a ship 
unloading rubber and coffee. The boat has a Dutch name and 
has just arrived from Java, one of the East India islands. We 
look in vain for a boat with either coffee or rubber from South 
America. Why is it that this great continent, which like Java lies 
in the hot belt, sends us no tropical products ? We ought certainly 
to get coffee and rubber from South America because the prod- 
ucts of the hot belt, like each of the other belts, are much the 
same all the way around the world. 

Let us find South America on the globe. It does not 
appear to be as far in a direct line from any part of this con- 
tinent to San Francisco as it does from Java. If you will 
examine the map carefully, however, you can learn "from it 
why no rubber and coffee are shipped to San Francisco from 
South America. One of the highest mountain ranges in the 
world extends along the whole of the western side of this con- 




The coffee plantations in Brazil cover miles and miles of country. There 

might be enough raised here to supply the whole world. The pickers 

have spread sheets under a tree in order to save all the berries 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



137 



tinent. It would not pay to carry the products of the lowlands 
westward across the mountains to the Pacific Coast. 

Great quantities of coffee and rubber do come from 
South America but the markets upon the eastern side of our 
country and of Europe are much larger and more easily 
reached than is the San Francisco market. Before the digging 
of the Panama Canal it was a very long voyage from the 
eastern coast of South America to San Francisco. Besides 
this city is not a good market for either rubber or coffee. The 
factories where rubber is prepared are in the eastern part of 
our country. The number of people in the East who drink 
coffee is also much greater. The larger part of the products 
of Java which we see being unloaded at the wharf do not stay 
in San Francisco but are shipped on East by train. 

Upon the eastern side of South America and almost in 
the middle of the hot belt is the broad valley of the Amazon 
river. Because of the great heat and heavy rainfall this 
valley is covered with one of the most wonderful tropical 
forests in the world. In this forest the rubber trees grow wild 
and all that has to be done is to tap them and collect the sap 




You might think this a scene in Spain if it were not for the curious animals. 
These odd creatures are called llamas and are used by the Indians 
to carry burdens. They are found only in the high valleys 
of the Andes Mountains in South America. 



138 



New Progressive Geographies 



which contains the rubber. Hundreds of miles to the south 
across the country of Brazil there is a hilly upland region 
where it is a little cooler and drier and here the coffee tree 
flourishes. 

Let us voyage to South America and learn what we can 
of the lands from which the rubber and coffee comes. The 
ship is headed for the mouth of the Amazon river. This river 
is so wide that we reach and enter it before any land appears 
in sight. That we are really in the river is proved by the 
fresh taste of the water. It is also proved by the pieces of 
wood that float past us. 

The river divides into many branches before it reaches 
the ocean. We take one of these branches and are soon pass- 
ing low shores covered with the most dense forest jungle 
we have ever seen. We cannot land and enter the jungle 
without having to cut our way through it. The country 
appears to be almost uninhabited. Here and there we obtain a 
glimpse of Indians and their rude shelters. The climate is not 
suited to white people and the work of clearing the forest is 
so great that few have come here. 

It is because of the heat and moisture that the vegetation 
is so luxuriant. Plants grow so fast that if one made a small 




A market scene in a mountain city of South America. The Indian in front 

is wearing a peculiar cloak called a poncho. This garment is woven 

in one piece with a hole left in the middle for the head. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 139 

clearing and then left it for two or three years he would upon 
his return have difficulty in finding it. 

Giant mahogany and rosewood trees, palms of many 
kinds, rubber, and Brazil-nut trees rise through a thick under- 
growth of small plants and are festooned with hanging vines. 
Many of the plants are brightly colored and exhibit gorgeous 
blossoms which have an almost overpowering fragrance. 
Many of the trees are valuable for their wood. Others, such 
as the cinchona tree, the bark of which supplies quinine, are 
valuable in medicine. 

The animal life is fully as wonderful as the plant life. 
Many kinds of birds with brilliant plumage fly through the 
air or call from the jungle but their voices are not as sweet 
as our birds. Innumerable butterflies of every shade and color 
flit everywhere. We have to be on constant guard against 
insects and snakes. Even the ants are dangerous because of 
their size and numbers. 

In the dense jungles we find the birds and climbing ani- 
mals more numerous than those that live on the ground. Why 
is this ? Troops of monkeys swing through the branches of 
the higher trees while occasionally we catch sight of an arma- 
dillo among the branches. In the more open parts of the for- 
est sloths are to be found and if we keep very quiet we may 
discover a puma or jaguar watching for its pre} 7 . 

Would you like the business of hunting rubber trees 
through such a forest as we have just visited? The work 
of tapping the trees and collecting the crude rubber is largely 
done by the Indians for they are used to the climate. 

We will now leave the hot sickly forests of the Amazon 
valley, and journey toward the south. The air becomes drier 
and not so oppressive, and after a time, we reach the open 
country. For days we travel across the rolling grassy high- 
lands of Brazil. In some places we see cattle and horses but 
most of this land is unoccupied except by wild animals and a 
few scattering Indians. 

As we finally approach the ocean again we reach the 
region of the coffee plantations. How pretty the trees look 
with their pure white blossoms. The coffee tree is not a 
native of South America but came first from Arabia, that 
far distant land of Asia which also supplies us many dates. 

Here in Brazil we find also great fields of cotton and sugar 
cane. As these plants also grow in the southern part of our 



140 



New Progressive Geographies 



own country they help us to understand the climate of a part 
of South America. 

5. Turkey sends us rugs, brass-ware, and sometimes figs and 
dates : 

We come next upon bundles of rugs and brass-ware 
labeled Constantinople, Turkey. In what part of the world is 
the country of Turkey, what sort of people live there and how 
did their goods reach San Francisco? 




The sights in a Turkish city are strange and interest- 
ing. The costumes of both men and women are different 
from those in other parts of the world. The roofs are 
covered with red tiles while here and there rise the tall 
spires, or minarets, of the mosques. From balconies high 
up in these minarets the priests call to prayer. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 141 



To return over the route by which they came we shall 
have to cross first the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Red 
Sea and go through the Suez Canal. Our boat then turns 
northward until, passing through a narrow strip of water 
separating Asia and Europe, we reach Constantinople, the 
capital of Turkey and one of the most interesting cities in the 
world. The city is the meeting place of many different races 
and tribes of people living in Europe, Asia and Africa. You 
can tell the different peoples by the shape of their faces, color 
of their skin, by their dress and by their language. We can- 
not mistake the Mohammedan men with their red fezes nor 
their women, because of the veils worn over their faces. 

How different the life of this city is from our cities. 
Almost everybody walks for there is only one street car line 
and few horses. All goods of whatever size or weight are 
carried by porters instead of wagons. Very strong men they 
must be to lift the enormous loads we see upon their backs. 
Here is one bound for the railroad station with a trunk weigh- 




It is easy to get lost in the jungles which border the Amazon river; for there 
are many little channels wide enough for a canoe. Plants of many 
sorts overhang the water and offer a home for innumer- 
able creeping and flying things. 



142 



New Progressive Geographies 



ing two hundred pounds. Yonder are four men carrying a 
piano hung from poles across their shoulders. 

The little shops are open to the street and the merchants 
have all their goods exposed in view of the passer-by. Men 
with brightly colored costumes sit in the streets in front of 
the cafes smoking long pipes as though they never had any- 
thing else to do. 

In the bazaars the shop-keepers call to us begging us to 
stop and look at their goods. Each claims his are better and 
cheaper than those of his neighbor. If you buy anything you 
must be very careful or you will pay much more than the 
article is worth. The merchant will ask you at first two or 
three times what he expects to get and it may take several 
hours to agree upon a price. During the bargaining you sit 
and sip little cups of black coffee. 

At the end of the bazaar we come to a great mosque 
where the Mohammedans worship. In front of the mosque 
is a fountain where the worshippers wash their feet before 
entering. If we wish to visit the mosque we take off our 
shoes at the door and put on slippers for the ground within is 




These are Indians who live on the banks of the Amazon River in South 
America. They travel from place to place by means of dug-out canoes. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



143 



sacred. But strange as it may seem we are asked to keep 
our hats on. In various parts of the building we see men 
kneeling on beautiful rugs and praying with their faces toward 
Mecca, the Holy City. 

Journeying now across the narrow strait which separates 
Europe from Asia we see how poor and wretched the country 
people are in their mud or stone houses. In this country, as 
in Spain, the forests have been cut down, the soil allowed to 
become poor for lack of care. The Mohammedan rulers of 
this country, known as Turks, are lazy and cruel and treat 
the different races of people under them as though they were 
slaves. 

It is in this poverty stricken country that many of the 
beautiful articles of brass and the wonderful rugs that are 
found in our homes were made. There are no factories nor 
is any of the work done by machinery. It is all hand made, 
sometimes in the home and sometimes in little shops. 




There are few drays in the streets of Constantinople. Porters do nearly all 
the carrying whether it be of pianos, huge pack- 
ing cases, barrels or trunks. 



144 



New Progressive Geographies 



How interesting it is to watch the making of a rug. A 
woman may work alone upon a rug, in which case it will take 
her weeks and perhaps months to complete it. A large rug 
may be woven by a dozen little girls. Instead of going out 
to play a part of the time as children do in our country these 
girls are kept steadily at work hour after hour. They sit in 
a row upon a bench in front of a loom, each having the pat- 
tern of that part of the rug she is to make. How deftly they 
insert and tie the different colored yarns. 

We will now visit Damascus, one of the oldest cities in 
the world. Here they make beautiful dishes of brass and 
copper and inlay them with silver. Men, boys and little girls 
are at work in a shop. Some of the children are not ten years 
old but have learned to hammer in the threads of silver accord- 
ing to the pattern cut on the brass or copper. 

If the journey across the desert is safe we will visit Bag- 
dad, another ancient city. Here were first told those interest- 




The poor people of Armenia have been oppressed by the Turks for hundreds 

of years. This Armenian family is moving and all their goods are 

on the rude cart. Look carefully and you will see that the 

wooden axle is fastened to the wheels. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



145 



ing stories of Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp, Ali Baba and 
the Forty Thieves and others of the Arabian Nights. 

We shall be glad when the Turk who has so long ruled 
this land is driven out and the people who for hundreds of 
years have been almost slaves are made free and prosperous. 

6. Boxes of dates call up in our minds pictures of palm trees 
in a far off desert oasis: 

The boxes of dates that we see upon the fruit stands 
came from Arabia, which, like Turkey, is a most fascinating- 
country. A better 
quality of dates 
which are seldom 
found in our mar- 
kets grows in the 
oases in the Sa- 
hara Desert in 
North Africa. It 
is a long journey 
to a desert oasis. 

The boat that 
brought Sahara 
dates to San Fran- 
cisco sailed for the 
most of the dis- 
tance over the 
same seas as the 
one that carried 
rugs from Con- 
stantinople. Be- 
yond the Suez 
Canal, however, the 
route it different. 
In order to reach 
the oasis where the 
dates grow we con- 
tinue westward 
through the Medi- 
terranean Sea past 
the north coast of 




The little girls instead of being out at play in 
the fresh air and sunshine are weaving a rug by 
hand which it may take them months to complete. 
When you look at a beautiful Turkish rug think of 
what its story may be. 



Egypt 
Africa 



and land at Tunis 



or Algiers 



on 



146 



New Progressive Geographies 



How much the mountains and valleys and plants look 
like those with which we are familiar. But the appearance 
of the people, their dress, manners and homes are very differ- 
ent. We never tire of wandering through the streets of 
Tunis and watching the people. Their homes and shops open 
directly on the street so that we can see them cooking, eating 
and doing their other daily tasks. How interesting to pass 
the baker's shop just as he has taken the bread out of the 
oven. The loaves are placed upon boards and set out in the 

middle of the nar- 
row street to cool. 
We have to watch 
carefully to keep 
from stepping upon 
them. 

But this is not 
the end of our 
journey. The oasis 
is still far away 
to the south. The 
first day's ride is 
upon the cars. As 
night approaches 
we pass through 
the coast moun- 
tains and reach a 
drier land just as 
we do when we 
pass the Coast 
Ranges of our own 
state. We leave the 
cars at a little town 
on the borders of 
the great Sahara 
Desert. 

A camel train 
has just come in 
from the oasis far 
to the south. The 
huge saddle bags 




It is water that makes possible the beautiful and 
rich oases with their date palms and gardens. 



woven of bright colored wool are filled with dates. To reach 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 147 

the oasis we shall have to take a camel ride. The awkward 
yellow beasts kneel with a great deal of groaning and we climb 
into the saddles. Now we are off across the sands. The "Ship 
of the desert" is all right as long as it walks but when it trots 
we have to hang on for dear life. 

The Sahara is not like our California deserts. Some rain 
falls in our deserts and they contain many plants, animals and 
birds, but in the Sahara rain rarely falls. We can see no living 
things, nothing but stretches of bare earth with here and there 
rocky hills and huge sand dunes. 

Climbing to the top of a dune we see in the distance a 
great forest of palms. These tell us that we are approaching 
an oasis. We can think of no better way of describing the 
oasis than to call it an island in an ocean of sand. Wherever 
there are springs of water an oasis is formed. If there is an 
abundance of water the oasis may be some miles in extent, 
and contain tens of thousands of palms and several villages. 

As we approach the oasis open spaces appear among the 
palms. In these are gardens irrigated by ditches of water. 




This is a summer pasture in a valley of the high Alps. For a few weeks in 
summer the cattle find plenty of grass but in winter the snow lies deep. 



148 



New Progressive Geographies 



The flat roofed mud houses of a village come in sight. We 
enter the main street, which is bordered upon either side by 
mud walls. In these walls are little doors giving entrance to 
the houses but there are no windows upon the street. 

The road leads to a large square where the weekly mar- 
ket is held. Here we meet dignified Moors and Arabs with 
turbans, white cloaks and bare feet. They scarcely look at us 
and even, the children show little curiosity. The mothers we 
do not see at all for they are not allowed on the street.. 

The square is wonderfully interesting on market days. 
People come with donkeys and camels from all parts of the 
oasis with every kind of thing for sale that one can think of. 
Each merchant sits quietly behind his goods waiting for a 
buyer. Now an Arab from the desert rides through on his 




Would you not like to visit an Arab school in an Oasis? A rug has been 

spread on the ground, the children have taken off their slippers 

and have seated themselves cross - legged around their 

teacher and are studying the Koran. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



149 



horse. Next a camel train comes in and the camels kneel and 
have their loads removed. In one corner of the market a 
Hindu juggler with his cobra performs and at the sound of his 
little flute the snake lifts itself up and swings back and forth. 
At one side of the square is a large building with a slen- 
der tower or minaret. This is the mosque and the priest goes 
up to the balcony at morning and evening to call the people to 
prayer. 




To reach the oases we may have to cross these great 
dunes of drifted sand. The Arabs have stopped for the 
noon-day prayer and one is kneeling with his face toward 
Mecca, the holy city of the Mohammedans. 



150 New Progressive Geographies 

Is it not interesting to know that the children in this far 
desert oasis also go to school? But what a strange school it 
is. The master takes the children out under a palm tree close 
to a ditch of water. A blanket or rug is spread on the ground. 
Each removes his slippers, placing them behind him, and all sit 
down cross legged in a circle before their teacher. 

There is only one book to be studied and that is the Koran 
— the Mohammedian bible. Each child has his own copy. They 
do not study quietly but chant their lessons aloud and sway 
their little bodies back and forth, keeping time to the chant. 

As it is the season for ripe dates men are at work cutting 
them down. The fruit hangs in large bunches near the top 
of the palms and can be reached only by climbing the bare 
trunks. The date and the camel are the most valued posses- 
sions of the desert Arabs. Without the date the oases could 
hardly be inhabited, and without the camel it would be difficult 
to reach them. 

7. Here are some cases marked — Switzerland: Let US go with 
these cases to the custom house where the government officers 
open them. Perhaps we can tell from the goods which they 
contain what sort of a country they came from. 

The first case contains beautiful wood carvings of birds, 
animals and men. Most wonderful of all is an eagle with 
spread wings. The second case contains milk chocolate. If 
you have never eaten Swiss chocolate you do not know what 
you have missed. 

Do these things tell us anything about the country and 
the people? The wood carvings suggest that the climate is 
stormy and that there is much time during which no outside 
work can be done, and that the men and boys spend their time 
in wood carving. The milk chocolate suggests that this coun- 
try must contain large numbers of cattle and that dairying is 
one of the leading industries. 

Examining the goods more closely we find that the carv- 
ings are labeled in words of the German language and the 
chocolate is labeled in French. The Swiss, then, can have no 
language of their own but speak the languages of the countries 
around them. 

We will now turn to the map and find Switzerland. Here 
it is, a little country in the heart of Europe without any sea 
coast. Powerful nations surround it on all sides. On the 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 151 

west of Switzerland is France and on that side French is 
spoken. On the north is Germany and in this part the lan- 
guage is German. On the south is Italy and the people speak 
Italian. On the East is Austria and in that part German and a 
curious language known as Grison is spoken. 

How is it that this little country with no language of its 
own has not been swallowed up by the nations around it? 
The map tells us that Switzerland is a land of mountains, of 
the highest and most rugged mountains in Europe. It is really 
the peak of Europe for in its mountains four great rivers rise 
and flow away in four different directions into four different 
seas. The mouths of these rivers are so far apart that you 
would have to travel almost around Europe to reach them all. 

Is it not, then, because the Swiss live among mountains 
that they have been able to keep their little country free ? Pro- 
tected by the mountains they have been safe in their beautiful 
valleys. 

We get wood carvings from Switzerland because they do 
finer work than any other people. A carved bear standing in 
front of a Swiss shop is so life-like that one at first sight 




In South China a strange looking wheelbarrow is used to carry goods and 

even people. Usually one man pushes it but sometimes 

another goes ahead and pulls. 



152 



New Progressive Geographies 



fancies it is a real bear. Because of the cold wet climate of 
the mountains there is much of the time that work cannot be 
carried on out of doors and so many industries have grown 
up in their homes. They not only carve wood but make fine 

watches, jewelry, 
pottery and lace. 

In the lower val- 
leys the grass is al- 
ways green because 
of the frequent 
rains. In the high- 
er valleys it is very 
cold and the snow 
falls deeply in win- 
ter but in summer 
these valleys also 
are covered with 
green grass. Be- 
cause of the grass 
stock raising is an 
important indus- 
try. In winter the 
cattle are kept in 
the lower valleys, 
but when the warm 
days come and the 
snow has melted 
they are driven to 
the higher slopes. 
Throughout the 




This Chinaman is going to market with a load 
of tea-pots. It has taken him many days to make 
them and he will have to carry them miles before 
he can sell them all. He must balance them care- 
fully for they are easily broken. His home must 
be cold if we can judge from the thick padded 
clothes he wears. 



summer we 



hear 
the tinkling of the 



cow bells in the 
meadows just below the icy glaciers. Here are little mountain 
chalets, the summer homes of the herders and their families. 
These rude cabins are made of logs, while the roofs are kept 
from blowing off by piling rocks upon them. The butter and 
cheese may be made in these little cabins or the milkers may 
carry the milk down to the lower valleys in great cans tied upon 
their backs. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



153 



Because the wealth of the Swiss is in cattle the most im- 
portant farm products are butter and cheese. The Swiss do 
not drink as much fresh milk as we do for they prefer to 
take it in the form of cheese. We like their butter but the 

great cheeses smell 
so strong we keep 
as far away from 
them as possible. 

Large quantities 
of milk are also 
used in/ making 
sweet chocolate. 
This is so delicious 
and is put up in 
such neat little 
packages that ev- 
ery one who goes 
into the Alps takes 
it with him. 

So many people 
spend their sum- 
mers in the Alps, 
climbing the high 
peaks and glaciers 
that Switzerland 
has come to be 
known las the 
"playground of 
Europe." Thus the 
Swiss have become 
a nation, of hotel 
keepers and de- 
pend largely upon 
the tourists that visit their picturesque land. 

If you want to spend a summer in the mountains of 
Switzerland you have to g<> prepared for quite a different life 
from what you would if yo*i went into our own High Sierras. 
In our mountains the summer climate is so delightful and 
sunny that we camp and live in the open air. In Switzerland 




The main street in Mukden, a city in Northern 

China. Most streets in Chinese cities are much 

narrower than this one. Note the curious 

dragon signs over the stores. 



154 



New Progressive Geographies 



it rains so often that people never think of camping out but 
spend every night in some hotel. 

People visit Switzerland in the winter as well as summer. 
While the snow lasts there is skating, tobogganing and skiing 
with snow shoes. Although the climate of Switzerland is very 
disagreeable yet the high snow-covered mountains, glaciers 
and dashing rivers form so great an attraction that people can- 
not stay away. 




He who has seen the midnight sun will never forget it. 
To stand on the deck of a boat in the Arctic ocean 
and watch the sun follow the horizon with- 
out going down although the hour is 
midnight is a strange experience. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 155 

8. Where do the little round cheeses come from? We may 
not find any round red cheeses upon the wharves of San Fran- 
cisco but we have all seen them in the grocery stores. They 
are called Edam cheeses. What a strange name. It does 
not sound like any place in our own country but like the ending 
of such names as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. These are Hol- 
land cities and the little round red cheeses are named after a 
village of that country. 

We have just been reading about Switzerland, the highest 
and most mountainous country in Europe where, because of 
the green meadows, dairying is the chief industry. Now we 
have come to Holland, the lowest and most level country in 
Europe, where also because of the wet climate there is an 
abundance of grass. Grain and hay and cattle are for this 
reason the most important farm products. In Switzerland 
a large part of the land is too rocky and steep for any kind of 
farming, but in Holland almost every foot of land can be culti- 
vated. 

But the most interesting thing about Holland is that a large 
part of it is really below the level of the North Sea. If it were 
not for the constant fight that the people are carrying on with 
the waters of the North Sea there would not be much dry land 
in this little country. 

For hundreds of years the people have fought the sea by 
building dikes of earth to keep the tides and waves from 
sweeping their homes away. In this way they have saved 
the lowlands on which now dwell hundreds of thousands of 
people. 

Once, long centuries ago, the sea did get the best of them. 
If you will look upon the map you will find a great bay in the 
north of Holland called the Zyder Zee. This was once dry 
land but during a severe storm the waves broke over the dikes, 
destroying hundreds of villages and drowning or . driving 
away many thousands of people. Perhaps if the water were 
clear we might see the ruined villages upon the bottom. 

Since the great flood happened many dikes have been re- 
built and the water pumped from thousands of acres of fertile 
fields. This work is still going on and perhaps sometime the 
Zyder Zee will be pumped dry and given over again to grain 
fields and herds of dairy cattle. 

The best way to see Holland is to take a trip on one of 
the many canals. How odd it seems to glide quietly through 



156 



New Progressive Geographies 



green fields, through villages, past farm houses and wind 
mills on a boat instead of a noisy car. 

How odd it seems also to find the water on which you are 
sailing higher than the fields on either side and to look down 
upon them instead of up as we do to the banks of a stream. 
Now and then the boat stops for a bridge to be raised or to 
pass through a lock to another part of the canal where the 
water stands at a different level. 

The tops of the canal banks are broad and flat and are 
used as roads. As there are no hills and the roads are smooth, 
dogs are very often used to pull loads. Sometimes we see a 
man or woman harnessed in with a dog. Here comes a milk- 
man's cart drawn by a huge dog that seems as much at home in 
the shafts as do our horses. 

Upon some of the wharves that we pass are huge piles 
of red Edam cheeses like those in our home markets. These 
cheeses are noted all over the world. The Hollanders love 
milk and drink a great deal of it. We can stop in any village 




The smooth level roads along the canals in Holland make it possible to use 

dogs to take milk and other produce to market. Notice the wooden 

shoes the man is wearing, also the windmills which pump 

the water out of the meadows and into the canals. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 157 

or city and buy a drink of milk in what they call a "milk 
saloon." 

The huge windmills, each with its four great arms slowly 
turning in the sea breeze are very interesting. Many of them 
are grist mills and to them the farmers come to have their 
grain ground just as our farmers carried their grain to mill 
long ago. The mills are also used to pump the water from 
the fields and marshes for if this work were not kept up con- 
tinually they would be flooded again. 

How curiously the people of some of the villages are 
dressed, the men with their baggy trousers, the women with 
their lace caps, while the children and all clatter about in their 
wooden shoes. 

The raising of cattle, hay and grain are not the only farm 
industries in Holland. Near the ocean are miles and miles of 
lily fields, the bulbs from which we find in our own seed stores. 
Beautiful and fragrant are these vast flower gardens. 

Although Holland is so rich and so carefully cultivated 
there are more people than can be fed. Every year ships come 
to San Francisco to load wheat for this little country. 

Holland also makes beautiful pottery and porcelain ware. 
The blue china dishes in your homes with the pretty scenes 
painted upon them were probably made there. 

Can you think of any other business that the people of 
Holland might carry on? Look at the map and you will see 
how many harbors the country has. The people are used to 
the water and have become fearless sailors. Their boats carry 
freight back and forth between all the great ports of the 
world. 

Winter is a delightful time in Holland for the children. 
Then the canals freeze over. Sleighs take the place of boats 
and everyone is out with his skates. Here in our sunny Cali- 
fornia valleys we rarely see the snow fall and do not know 
the pleasure of ice skating and sleighing. Sometime, however, 
when there are more good roads we may make use of our 
snowy mountains for winter sports as we now use them for 
summer camping. 

9. A great steamship is discharging a cargo from China: 
Among our neighbors on the other side of the Pacific Ocean 
is the country of China that contains more people than any 
other upon the whole earth. It is so crowded that many go 



158 



New Progressive Geographies 



to distant lands to live, and so it has come about that there are 
thousands of Chinese in California. 

When first we saw the Chinese in their thick padded cloth- 
ing, bamboo hats and wooden soled slippers peddling vege- 
tables from two huge baskets hung from a pole balanced over 
their shoulders, we thought them very curious people. When 
people from our country first went to China the Chinese would 
in their turn gather around and poke fun at the strange look- 
ing barbarians, for they thought they were much more civilized 
than we. 

Let us first learn what we can about China from the 
habits of the people and the things which they send us. After 
that we will take a little journey through their vast country. 

The padded cotton clothing worn by the Chinese tells us 
that they do not have flocks of sheep or goats to furnish wool 
but that cotton is easy to get. The padding of their garments 
tells us farther that the winters must be cold and that they 
have little fuel. The fact that the Chinaman is so used to 
carrying great loads makes us quite certain that they have few 
horses and wagons. 

The most valuable part of the cargo of the steamer that 




Pekin, the capital of China, is surrounded by a great wall outside of which 
the country looks barren and deserted. A camel train is just ar- 
riving. It may have come more than one thousand miles 
across the vast deserts of Central Asia. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 159 

has just arrived from China is silk. It will be taken by train 
to the factories in the eastern part of our country and there 
made into beautiful cloths. 

In order to have so much silk to sell the Chinese must 
grow mulberry trees and raise great quantities of silk worms. 
Now, since the mulberry trees thrive in the valleys of Cali- 
fornia, we must conclude that at least a part of China has a 
climate like that of our home-land. 

Another part of the cargo consists of sacks of rice. Of 
course we should expect that rice would grow in China for 
we have heard so much about the Chinaman and his chop- 
sticks and bowl of rice. We grow rice in our own state so that 
from this product we learn still more about China. 

Now they are hoisting chests of tea out of the vessel. In 
China the water is usually not fit to drink. The Chinese are 
always making tea and offering it to their visitors — and such 
delicious tea it is ! The tea plant thrives in a warm moist 
climate, as we have already learned. Thus where the tea is 
produced the climate must be different from any part of our 
state, for we cannot grow tea. 

Are these things all that we get from China? No, for 
some of the most beautiful silk embroideries come from there. 
We also get porcelain dishes and bamboo articles of various 
sorts. 

We will now take a peek at the real China. Only a few 
years ago the Chinese would not let strangers enter their 
country. They looked upon every one else as barbarians. 
They shut themselves away from the rest of the world and on 
the north built a great wall more than one thousand miles long 
to protect themselves. 

We cross the Pacific Ocean, sail through the Yellow Sea, 
so named from its muddy waters, and land at the mouth of 
a great river. How shall we journey inland? We might find 
a cart drawn by a little horse but it would be tiresome riding, 
and, besides this, there are very few roads. We might engage 
one of the strange looking wheel barrows that are used for 
carrying freight, but this would also be very tiresome. The 
best way to reach the heart of the country is by means of a 
river boat. We can land wherever we wish and see how the 
people live. 

We discover that China is a land of great plains stretch- 
ing as far as we can see. Here and there are barren looking 



160 



New Progressive Geographies 



mountains. The trees have been cut from the slopes and the 
rain water runs away so rapidly that it takes with it much of 
the soil. The muddy waters give the name Yellow Sea to that 
part of the ocean into which they empty. 

The villages are scattered thickly over the plains. There 
are so many people to be fed that every bit of land is culti- 
vated. They cannot afford space for roads and so we have to 
use the narrow foot paths between the fields. 

How poor the villages look with their mud houses. How 
poor the people look as they crowd around to see the foreign- 
ers. The children look like little dolls in their thickly padded 




A Japanese paddy field is an interesting sight with the 

laborers in their curious costumes wading in the 

mud and water setting out the young rice plants. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



161 



trousers and coats. There is so little fuel that these warm 
clothes are put on in the fall and never taken off until spring. 

The main street of a city that we pass through is not 
wide enough for a horse and carriage. We can almost touch 
the houses on either side with outstretched arms. The people 
crowd each other in their efforts to pass with their great loads 
hanging from their shoulder poles. We do not wonder that 
Chinese leave this crowded land whenever they can and go 
to America and other lands where there is more room. 

Now Pekin, the capital of China, comes in sight. We 
enter through a huge gate in the massive wall that surrounds 
the whole city. If we are fortunate we shall see a camel train 
coming in from the wilds of Central Asia. 

Pekin is divided into several cities by walls. We first 
enter the Chinese city; then we go through another wall to 
the Tartar City. Within the latter and also surrounded by 
a wall is the Imperial City in which the emperor once lived. 
In the centre of the Imperial City is the palace of the emperor. 

The best place to go to see the people is a fair. The little 
stands and booths contain everything imaginable. In one part 
are toys of almost infinite variety. In another part ancient 





... ,i ._. 






- 

' 
* 












rfc jfB^B^^TB 




H . 




|\jg 


2Sl 


























. 



The Pekin cart does not look like a very comfortable way of getting about 

the rough streets. In most parts of China there are no horses 

and one cannot even get a cart in which to ride. The 

driver is dressed as though it were cold. 



162 New Progressive Geographies 

porcelains and bronzes. In another, ornaments of green jade 
stone. In another are necklaces and rosaries of beautiful 
amber beads. We stop to bargain for a piece of jade and soon 
a crowd of men, women and children gathers around. They 
are very curious and want to see what we are looking at. We 
try to escape the crowd but still they follow. 

The Chinese are good farmers but they do not take care 
of their mountains. The soil is being washed from the steeper 
slopes and floods and famines are frequent. They seem to care 
little for the wonderful buildings that are crumbling away. 
But they are beginning to awake from their long sleep. They 
are now anxious to learn from foreign peoples whom they once 
called barbarians. 

10. The Japanese at home: A visit to a Japanese store will 
show the many beautiful articles which Japan makes and sends 
to other countries. There are silks and embroideries, porce- 
lains, bronzes, lacquer work and baskets. 

To see the Japanese and their treasures at home we must 
visit one of their magnificent temples during the cherry-blos- 
som festival. The Japanese take great pride in their temples, 
which are usually surrounded by beautiful gardens and groves 
of giant trees. 

The temples shine in their coats of many colored lacquer 
almost as brightly as do the little lacquer boxes with which we 
are all familiar. At the entrance to the temple gardens are 
huge wooden gateways called Tori. The walks are bordered 
by finely carved stone lanterns. In some of the gardens are 
little ponds with stone bridges leading to islands upon which 
are tea houses. 

Men, women and children dressed in their holiday best 
crowd the temple grounds. The blossoming cherry trees, the 
gay parasols, the brightly colored cloths of the curious cos- 
tumes make a picture we can never forget. Among the crowd 
are many pilgrims in more sober garb, each carrying his 
gourd water bottle. Each temple or shrine is noted for some 
particular thing and so pilgrims often travel a long distance 
to reach the one in which they wish to worship. 

Along the borders of the walks leading up to the temples 
are little shops containing everything beautiful that the Jap- 
anese manufacture. Among these are porcelain dishes, pot- 
tery, bronze dishes, carved wood and bamboo work. At these 
shops the tourists as well as pilgrims buy souvenirs to take 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



163 



home with them. In some of the temple grounds are tame deer 
that come up and eat out of your hand. 

In the centre of each temple is the shrine. If it is a 
Buddhist temple there is a statue of Buddha sitting cross- 
legged. If it is a temple of another religion it may contain a 
tierce-looking image of some evil spirit. Visitors throw small 
copper coins before the images. This money is used to support 
the temple and the priests. Lanterns hang in various places 
and there are many great incense burners giving out a pleasant 
perfume. 

If we go shopping in one of the cities we find an endless 
variety of things to interest us. There are wonderfully decor- 
ated vases, exquisite bronze ware inlaid with silver and gold, 
jewelry of every description and last of all silk embroideries. 
When we turn to enter a store an attendant at the door asks 




Tea plantations look much the same whether they are in Japan, China, Java, 
Ceylon or India. The people picking leaves in this pic- 
ture are natives of Java. 



164 



New Progressive Geographies 



us to take off our shoes and put on slippers so that no dirt 
from the street will be carried in. 

How neat and clean the little bamboo houses are. They 
have light movable walls and screens. During the day some 
of these are taken down, leaving the front rooms open to the 
street. Here we see the owners sitting on the floor eating or 
sipping tea. The walls are often decorated with fanciful paint- 
ings of flowers, birds and beasts. 

At the stations on some of the main railroads are tea 
stands where for four sen (two cents in our money) one can 
buy a little pottery tea pot containing a pinch of tea, a cup 
to drink out of and hot water to make tea. Thus one is sure 
his tea is fresh and clean. 

As we go through the country we are surprised at not 
seeing any horses or cows. The Japanese do not care for milk 
and usually walk when they wish to go anywhere. When, 
however, one has money to spare he rides in a rickshaw. This 
is a light spring cart with shafts in which a coolie takes the 
place of a horse. If the road is level he will pull your rick- 



j 


mmm^^&^ 


\ 1 


- 


- ■ ._.,■ ■■. ■-'■ ,.Jv 


1 1 





This picture shows some Fijians in their gaily decorated canoe. The natives 

of all the many thousands of islands that dot the Pacific Ocean are 

thoroughly at home upon the water and make great canoes 

in which they travel from one island to another. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 165 

shaw at a trot for many miles. Where it is hilly a second 
coolie pushes behind. 

Among the most interesting sights in Japan are the chil- 
dren. Dressed in their brightly colored garments they look 
like dolls. The little girls act as nurse-maids for the babies, 
carrying them around tied on their backs. Often the babies 
fall asleep and their heads seem in danger of rolling off. 

Everywhere we see the school children going on excur- 
sions to visit different temples and historic places. They set 
us a good example in studying the real things out of doors 
instead of reading about them. 

11. A warehouse is filled with the products of the Hawaiian 
Islands : 

Here is a warehouse filled with thousands of sacks of 
sugar, thousands of cases of canned pineapples and hundreds 
of bunches of bananas. These are products of some tropical 
country, and as there is such a great quantity of them we 
should judge that the country must be a large and important 
one. What is our surprise to learn that they all come from 
a group of little islands lying in the midst of the Pacific 
Ocean. 

Why do these little islands send us so much when we 
never see anything in our markets from such great countries 
as Russia? One reason is that these islands lie in the hot belt, 
have an abundant rainfall and are very fertile. Another rea- 
son is, as you can see from the globe, that our country forms 
the nearest market. A third reason is that the islands produce 
just the things that we have need of, sugar cane being the only 
one of these products grown in our own country. 

Many people spend their winters in the Hawaiian Islands 
which, though they lie in the edge of the hot belt, have a mild 
climate because of the broad ocean all around them. 

We will take a swift steamship which after passing out 
through the Golden Gate turns toward the southwest. Long 
before reaching the islands the air becomes warm and agree- 
able and showers of rain are frequent. The first land that 
comes in sight is formed of steep mountains. These rise di- 
rectly out of the ocean while their tops are hidden in misty 
clouds. Their slopes are covered with deep green vegetation. 

We enter the harbor of Honolulu and discover at once 
upon landing that we are in a tropical land. There is not a 
flower or a tree to remind us of California. We will first 



166 New Progressive Geographies 

make a circle of the island on a fine road and visit the banana, 
pineapple and sugar plantations. Everywhere we see the dark- 
skinned natives, whose music delights us. There are also 
many Japanese and Chinese, for the plantations require more 
workers than the islands afford. 

Next the bathing beaches call us. The huge green waves 
break upon a broad sandy beach, behind which rise tall palm 
trees. The native Hawaiians are almost as much at home in 
the water as on the land. Here they come riding the crests 
of the waves on their small boards and land almost at our feet. 

How strange to find such beautiful fertile islands in the 
midst of the great Pacific Ocean. They are not ordinary 
islands but are the tops of great volcanoes that rise from the 
deepest part of the ocean. Upon one of the islands there is an 
enormous active volcano more than two and a half miles high. 

Let us visit the crater of this great volcano and learn 
more about it. The crater is a cup-like hollow in the top of 
the mountain. Here and there in the bottom of the crater are 
cracks in the hot lava rock through which steam is issuing. 
The rocks on which we walk are almost hot enough to burn 
our shoes and in several places we can look down a deep 
fissure and see the glowing lava. At times one cannot enter 
the crater for it becomes a fiery mass of molten lava boiling 
and steaming like a great kettle. Occasionally the lava boils 
over and a stream of fire runs down the mountain, destroying 
the forests and plantations that lie in its path. During a 
recent eruption a stream of lava reached the sea. It poured 
over the cliffs like a waterfall and as it struck the water a 
great cloud of steam arose, accompanied by a loud roar. 

12. From Far Northern Regions come important products : 
We have learned something about the tropical lands far to the 
south and the products we receive from them. We are not 
surprised that these lands of heat, rain and sunshine supply 
many things, but it is strange that the cold barren north has 
anything for us. 

What do we find upon the wharves from Alaska and other 
parts of the North? A steamer is unloading thousands of 
cases of canned salmon, and many bales of valuable furs, while 
an express messenger is just leaving the boat with some small 
heavy packages which we learn contain gold. A dirty looking 
sailing vessel is discharging casks of whale oil and masses of 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 167 

whale-bone. Lying out in the bay, just ready to depart for the 
north, is a fine steamer loaded with tourists. What can be 
taking them to that far region? The cameras they carry 
should suggest why they are visiting the north. Alaska has 
wonderful scenery for it has the highest mountains of North 
America. It has great streams of ice called glaciers. It has 
thousands of islands and bays, the shores of which rise in pic- 
turesque cliffs from the water's edge. 

Among the articles shipped to San Francisco out of the 
North there are no food products from the land. We certainly 
could not expect any since the Laplanders and Esquimaux 
who live there have to depend entirely upon animal food except 
for a little time in the summer. Then the long days call into 
life for a few weeks a multitude of flowers and low berry 
bushes, the latter loaded with delicious fruit. The long cold 
winter when the natives have to live mostly upon dried fish 
is replaced by a short summer, during which wild animals, 
birds and berries abound and the streams are full of fish. 

The miners who go to the inhospitable north have nearly 
all their food shipped from San Francisco or some other south- 
ern seaport. It has been discovered, however, that in some 
of the far northern valleys the summers are long enough to 
grow such vegetables as lettuce, turnips, beets and cabbage. 

The globe or map tells us why the waters of Alaska are 
so filled with salmon and other fish. The coast line is so 
broken by deep bays and islands that one might easily get 
lost among them without a sailor's chart. This is just the 
sort of a coast that fish like and so the waters form the home 
of countless numbers. Most important among these are the 
cod, halibut and salmon. Most ocean fish spend all their lives 
in salt water but the salmon seek the rivers in order to lay 
their eggs in fresh water. Many ice-cold rivers flow down 
from the snowy mountains and at the mouths of these salmon 
canneries have been built. 

Those whales most valuable for their oil once abounded 
in the icy waters of the far north, but now they are so nearly 
exterminated that it is not often we see a whaling ship in San 
Francisco Bay. It is fortunate that we have now other sources 
of light for our lamps or the scarcity of whale-oil would make 
lights very expensive. 

The Alaskan furs are highly prized. A part of them are 
obtained from the Indians through trade. Among these furs 



168 



New Progressive Geographies 



are those of the great polar bear, Arctic fox, otter, etc. The 
most valuable of the furs are those of the seal. The fur seal 
inhabits the shores of islands in Behring Sea. The hunting 
of these animals is carefully regulated and only a certain num- 
ber are allowed to be taken each year. 

Whatever part of the earth we visit we find that the peo- 
ple living there think their home is the best. The people of 
the tropics prefer hot weather. We like the climate of our 
home the best for it is between the very hot and the very cold. 
The Esquimaux and Laplanders would not feel at all at home 
in our mild climate and prefer their icy lands. 

How cheerless is the winter home of the Esquimaux. It 
is built of blocks of stone or cakes of snow with a low entrance 
to help keep out the cold. There they stay through the long 
cold winter night, tucked in most of the time like squirrels 
in their winter home. They have no fuel for fires but keep 
from freezing by means of lamps burning fish or whale oil. 

When the spring comes the dogs and sleds are brought 
out and the families journey to the hunting and fishing 
grounds; here they make temporary shelters of skins. The 
father goes out in his skin boat for seal and walrus and 
meets all kinds of dangers. The skins of the animals are used 




Here is a group of Filipinos carrying milk from the country into Manila. It 
must require considerable practice to balance such loads on their heads. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 169 

for clothing and the meat not at once eaten is dried, while the 
fat is tried out and saved for the winter lamps. 

The women and children help prepare the skins and dry 
the meat. As soon as the snow has gone the imprisoned plants 
spring up, open their blossoms, and in a very short time the 
wild berries are ripe. The birds come from the south and 
for a few weeks the world, so dead through the long winter, is 
full of life. 

The Esquimaux depend almost wholly upon hunting and 
fishing. The Laplander has in addition his herds of reindeer, 
which furnish much of his clothing and food. 

13. We carry on an important trade with the Philippine 
Islands: Upon what part of the globe shall we look for the 
Philippine Islands? Perhaps an examination of the piles of 
Philippine products just unloaded from a great steamer will 
help us to answer this question. Here are many coconuts, 
bags of rice, sugar, coffee and cocoa beans, and bales of Manila 
hemp. We decide at once that the islands lie farther south 
than California and where it is hot throughout the year and 
that they must be near Asia on the opposite side of the Pacific 
Ocean. 

The Philippine Islands are interesting to us because they 
belong to the United States. To reach them we take a steamer 
by way of Japan and China. The trip is a long one, but the 
ocean is usually quiet. The ship's course is first to the Haw- 
aiian Islands, where the warm moist air and rank vegetation 
tell us that we are in the Tropics. Japan is reached next and 
here we are back again in a climate much like that of California. 

The boat turns southwestward from Japan to Hongkong. 
After reaching this place we again turn out into the ocean 
until the wonderful group of tropical islands of which we are 
in search comes into view. 

We land at Manila, the capital, which does not seem as 
strange a city as we should expect it to be, because the Span- 
iards once held it. They put up many buildings much like 
those the Spanish missionaries built in California. 

It is not until we leave the city and go out into the coun- 
try that we see the real Filipinos in their homes. Heavy rains 
in this tropical land, together with a hot sun and rich soil, 
covers the earth with a dense jungle full of new and wonder- 
ful plants. 



170 



New Progressive Geographies 



In the clearings which have been made in the jungle, the 
nearly naked Filipinos are at work. Their tools are poor and 
they have no animals to help them but the water buffalo. This 
animal is at home in the muddy rice fields, but is used for all 

kinds of work. 
When it is very 
hot and flies are 
bad, the water buf- 
falo seek refuge in 
ponds. They pre- 
sent a strange sight 
with only their 
heads sticking out 
of the water. 

The farther back 
into the jungle we 
go the more wild 
and savage the na- 
tives are. In the 
remote mountains 
are the "head hunt- 
ers," who were 
once greatly feared 
by the other na- 
tives. 

We discover that 
bamboo is used 
here for every pur- 
pose that we use 
wood at home. It 
serves as a frame- 
w o r k for their 
houses, for fences, 
matting, baskets, 
etc., while the palm leaf is used on the roof as in other tropical 
regions. The rain-fall is so great that the ground is always 
wet. Because of this the houses are built up some distance 
above the ground and the space underneath is left open. 

Growing about the villages are many curious fruits which 
we have never seen before. These never reach the San Fran- 
cisco market because they decay as soon as taken away from 




Some of the natives of the Philippine Islands build 

their homes in trees and reach them by long 

ladders. They are safe from wild animals 

and from surprise attacks by enemies. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World < 171 



their home. Some of the fruits, such as bananas, we are of 
course familiar with. 

We see plantations in which are grown the graceful trees 
resembling the banana palm and from which the glossy yellow 
Manila hemp is obtained. Manila hemp is prized above all 
other kinds, since the strongest ropes and cables are made 
from it. 

The growing of rice is one of the most interesting of the 
industries. Rice fields, each surrounded by a low embankment 
to hold the water, cover the country in places for miles. We 
see the men at work in the water. Some are setting out the 
young plants ; others are plowing with the water buffalo. Oc- 
casionally two men may be seen pulling the plow and a third 
one holding it. 

The rice fields are often found on the sides of the moun- 
tains, for the climate is so wet it is easy to obtain enough water 
anywhere. The water is held in each field by an embankment. 




The so-called Panama hats are made in many places besides Panama. The 
Filipinos and other peoples of the East India Islands to the south- 
ward also weave fine soft hats. The picture shows Jav- 
anese women weaving such hats. 



172 



New Progressive Geographies 



Where the slopes are steep each field must be made very small. 
The succession of flooded rice fields extending up the side of 
a mountain looks like a series of broad flat steps or terraces; 
water is kept standing on the rice most of the time until it is 
fully grown. Then it is drawn off and as soon as the kernels 
are hardened the grain is cut and tied in little bundles. It is 
threshed by being pounded with a light stick. Then the rice 
is put in large wooden mortars and pounded until the husk 
.comes off. After that it is polished. The natives have learned 
to polish the rice from white people, but it should not be done, 
as the most nutritious part is thus lost. 

Although rice is the most important crop of the Philip- 
pine Islands, yet the natives depend upon it so largely for 
food that there is not enough even for them and some is 
brought from China. This makes it clear why it was that 
we found little rice among the products that are shipped to 
San Francisco. 

A great deal of tobacco is grown in the Philippine Islands, 
but the natives smoke so much that there is little left to sell. 











J 










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AST jy^T^ 




/{ j 






1 Auttf !' 4 '/a 

1 0LJ n MB AB* m . A 




T . 




" r ",' ~r~ ~. ■ "/■' ~ 7 ~". ' 


^•"*"?W$ l j!^5TJjJFV^r' c^.",; ~ 




. ■ : T^ "*• 


..-'-l- ^ 



The different tribes in the Philippine Islands once were continually fighting 
among themselves. Now they enjoy mock fights on 
their numerous holidays. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 173 

Manila hemp they do not have much use for, and as there is 
a good market for it in our country, a large quantity is ship- 
ped here. Bananas and pineapples we can get nearer home, 
and so we do not send to the Islands for them. 




A pretty African village in a banana grove. Note the thatched huts and the 
mortar and pestle for hulling or crushing some sort 
of grain, perhaps rice. 



174 



New Progressive Geographies 



As we travel through the many different islands we meet 
people of different races. In the remote mountains there are 
wild people who are said to be cannibals. In the southern 
islands there are Malays, who are fierce and treacherous. 

14. Why Africa sends us so little of her products : We never 
find upon the wharves or even in the shops any African pro- 
ducts unless it be a few dates from the Sahara Desert. Why 
is it we have so little trade with the great continent of Africa ? 

We see from the position of Africa on the globe that it 
lies very far away from California and quite near some of the 
other countries that we have talked about. This is one reason 
why we trade very "little with the people of that continent. 

We have already sailed around the southern end of Africa 
on one of our voyages to England and have stopped at Cape 
Town, the farthest point south. There we found a climate 
much like that of California. On another voyage we sailed 
through the Mediterranean Sea and stopped at Tunis on the 
north shore of Africa. You may remember that upon landing 
we found there also a climate similar to California. 

Now, since both the northern and southern parts of Africa 
have a mild or temperate climate like California, do you not 
think that the central part ought to have a hot climate? Fol- 




The lion is the largest of the cat family and since he lives on the flesh of 

other animals he makes his home on the borders of the dense forests of 

Central Africa where there is some open grass-land to which the 

buffalos, giraffes, antelopes, zebras and other animals go to feed. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 175 

low the hot belt around the world and you will find that it does 
extend through the heart of the continent. Much of this re- 
gion is, then, because of the heat and fevers, not well suited 
as a home for white people. It is inhabited by wild and un- 
civilized negroes. We sometimes call Africa the "dark con- 
tinent." Perhaps it is because it is mostly inhabited by dark 
people, or it may be because we know so little about much of it. 

The needs of the black people are few and their own land 
supplies these. Some have cultivated gardens and there is 
everywhere an abundance of game. 

Large and fierce animals, of which the lion is king, are 
found in Africa. There are other large animals not so fierce, 
such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, etc. 
Some of the little insects are fully as dangerous as the great 
animals. Among them is a poisonous fly that has driven the 
natives and some of the animals away from parts of Central 
Africa. The ants are fully as dangerous as those of South 
America. 

There are two products of Southern Africa that are very 
valuable. One is gold and the other is diamonds. In Central 
Africa, where most of the blacks live, the traders who go 
among them have made the getting of ivory, elephant tusks, 
an important business. 

Although we have very little to do with it, yet Africa is 
a wonderful country. In the central part are found the great- 
est number of uncivilized people living anywhere in the world. 

In the north is the Sahara, one of the- largest and worst 
deserts in the world. In the eastern part of this desert is 
Egypt with the Nile river flowing through it. Here lived the 
first civilized people of the earth. The wonderful temples built 
thousands of years ago are still standing. The descendants 
of these ancient people are today poor and ignorant. 

15. Where are the products of Norway and Sweden? There 
are many people living in California whose homes were once 
in Norway and Sweden. Why did they come to California? 
Why do we get none of the products of these countries? 

If you will look on the globe you will find Norway and 
Sweden away in the north of Europe. They form a penin- 
sula of mountains almost surrounded by water. What does 
the map tell us about these countries? 

In the first place, the map says that being so far north 
they must have a cold climate. Their climate must be colder 



176 



New Progressive Geographies 



than England and very much colder than Spain, from which, 
as we have learned, came many of our California fruits. The 
map tells us also that being almost surrounded by water these 
countries should have a moist climate. 

Where the climate is cold and wet we should expect to 
find cone-bearing trees such as the fir and pine. Lumbering, 
then, must be one of the industries. There are many deep 
bays so that boats can go far into the land, get the lumber 
and take it to market. They do not send their lumber to us 
because we have plenty and the people that do need it live 
close by. 

Since the land is mountainous, wet and covered with for- 
ests, what would you think about the importance of farming? 
We know that there is not enough wheat raised because Swe- 
dish and Norwegian ships come to San Francisco to buy it. 
Because of the wet climate the cleared farms are green with 
grass and there are a great many dairy cattle. We do not 




The zebra inhabits the grassy uplands of Central Africa. It is related to 

the horse but it has never been fully domesticated and is 

of very little use to the natives. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



177 



buy their butter and cheese because we make enough of our 
own, and England, only a little distance away, takes all they 
have to spare. How interesting it is to watch the women and 
girls working in the hay fields. It rains so much that the 
hay will not dry if left on the ground. In order to cure it 
well, supports that look much like fences are built. On these 
the hay is piled so that the sun and air can get at it better 
and dry it more quickly. 

Since the coast line is very broken, fishing is important, 
and a great many men are engaged in this occupation. But 
none of their canned or dried fish is sent to us because we 
have plenty of fish of our own. 

The broken coast with deep bays and the abundance of 
trees have led to the building of ships. We all remember the 
stories of the Vikings and Norsemen and how bold and fear- 
less they were upon the stormy ocean, and in combat with 
their neighbors to the south. Now the thousands of fine Swe- 
dish and Norwegian ships are not engaged in fighting but in 
carrying goods in all parts of the world. 

Now it is easy to understand why the products of Norway 




The people of Norway are expert sailors and fishermen because their coun- 
try has so many bays and islands. Wherever you travel along 
the coast you see fish strung up to dry. 



178 



New Progressive Geographies 



and Sweden do not come to San Francisco and also why many 
of their people make their homes in our own pleasant land. 

16. What does Australia ship to San Francisco? We can 
reach Australia by sailing southwesterly across the Pacific 
Ocean. We pass the Hawaiian Islands first, then many coral 
islands covered with palm trees, and at last, when one-third 
of the distance around the world, we come to the land we are 
seeking. On the globe this land appears like an island, but as 
it is so large it is usually called a continent. 

What are some of the things Australia sends us? First 
and most important is wool. From this we conclude that Aus- 
tralia must be a grazing country, where roam vast numbers 
of sheep. If we are at the wharf when a cargo is being dis- 
charged, we shall find that beef is also one of the important 
productions. While we raise many cattle in California, there 




These negroes of Central Africa are sitting by the door of their round hut. 
You can see how crudely it is made. The Bushmen of Aus- 
tralia are wilder and have fewer comforts and 
poorer shelters than do these negroes. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



179 



are not enough for our own use and so we have to buy of 
those who have more than they need. 

Australian coal also comes to San Francisco. That land 
has coal to spare and we have very little. We do not often 
get wheat, since we raise so much in our own land. But dur- 
ing the Great War wheat was shipped to San Francisco, here 
to be made into flour and then sent on to England. This 
was because of the danger from submarines in the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. 

Our apples ripen in the fall, and by spring, unless they 
have been kept in a cold place, they are all gone. Late in the 
spring, however, when our apples are gone, we sometimes get 
fresh apples from Australia. How can this be possible? In 
going to Australia we finally leave the cool belt in which we 
live and enter the hot be,lt. By the time we have reached the 
southern part of the continent we have crossed the hot belt 
and find ourselves in the southern cool belt. When we are 
having summer it is winter in Southern Australia, and when 
we have spring it is fall there. Their seasons are just the 
opposite of ours, and so their apples ripen at the time our 
trees are blossoming. 




Would not a pack animal like this be a funny sight in our country? 
Mexico it attracts no attention. After filling the bags as full as 
possible with tobacco leaves the driver climbs on the top, 



In 



180 



New Progressive Geographies 



Australia is a strange land. When white people first 
went there they found dark, curly-headed natives who looked 
much like negroes. These natives are called Bushmen. They 
are among the most ignorant of all the wild inhabitants of 
the earth. 

In Australia there are none of the great animals that 
abound in Asia and Africa. The largest native animal is the 
kangaroo, which we often see in zoological parks. It has 
long hind legs for leaping and a pocket in which the little 
ones are carried for some time after they are born. 

Australia has furnished us valuable trees 
are the acacia and the eucalyptus. 

17. A Pacific Coast Steamship brings Mexican products: 
We do not have very much to do with our neighbors, the 
Mexicans and the Central Americans, who live to the south of 
us. This is strange because, being farther south, their lands 
ought to have a tropical climate. They should raise many 
fruits that grow only in the hot belt and we should send them 
many products from our more northern and cooler land. 



Among these 




A country scene in Central America where the workers upon the plantations 
have gathered in their best clothes for a holiday. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



181 



The reason we do not get many things from our south- 
ern neighbors is that they have been too busy fighting among 
themselves to give much attention to improving their lands 
and to trade. 

What is the steamer unloading? First come bunches of 
bananas from Central America, and then boxes of limes. 
There are many bales of hides, for these countries raise large 
numbers of cattle on the higher cooler slopes. There are also 
bags of coffee, crude rubber, tobacco, indigo and great logs 
of rosewood and mahogany. Thus you see what a. variety of 
products come from Mexico and Central America and how 
important our trade with them ought to be. 

If you could take a journey through the highlands of 
Mexico you would think you were in Spain, from which coun- 
try came, as you will remember, the first settlers of California. 
The homes are made of stone or adobe, as in Spain, and in 
the country villages you will find that the dress and customs 
of the people are very much like those of their old home in 
Spain. Most of the Mexicans are, however, darker than the 
Spaniards, because they have mixed more or less with the 
Indians. 




The heavy wooden carts drawn by oxen used to be seen in California when 
the land was a part of Mexico. The same slow methods of trans- 
porting farm products are still used in Mexico. 



182 



New Progressive Geographies 



We may say, then, that Mexico is a second Spain. It is 
very interesting because our own California once formed a 
part of it. 

18. Why do we trade so little with Russia, the largest country 
in the World? We have already learned something of China, 
the country that contains the most people of any in the world, 
and why we have an important trade with these people. Let 
us now try to find out why we have so little trade with the 
largest country in the world. 

We search the wharves and look through the markets 
and stores without finding anything from Russia except a few 
furs. We turn to the globe and discover that Russia is a vast 
region. It takes in all of Northeastern Europe, and the part 
known as Siberia includes all of Northern Asia. A land so 
large must contain many people and ought to have an impor- 
tant trade with other countries. 

Perhaps the lack of trade with us is because travel be- 
tween the two countries is difficult. The globe or map tells 
us, however, that we can reach Russia by water from four 
different directions. We can go directly across the Pacific to 




This is a home upon the great plain of Central Russia. It is more attractive 

than the treeless prairies to the south or the dark 

pine forest to the north. 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 



183 



•Eastern Siberia, and from our port of landing, Vladivostok, 
a railroad will take us to the heart of Russia. We can go to 
Constantinople by the route we have already traversed and, 
entering the Black Sea, reach Southern Russia. We can go 
eastward across our country to New York, or by boat through 
the Panama Canal, then sail northeastward across the Atlantic 
until we round the northern point of Europe and, entering the 
White Sea, reach Northern Russia. Or, finally, we can sail 
from New York across the Atlantic and, passing by the Brit- 
ish Isles on the right hand and Sweden and Denmark on the 
left, enter the Baltic Sea. Now we can easily reach Petrograd, 
once the capital of Russia. 

The furs that we get tell us that the northern part of 
Russia must be in the cold belt. Central and Southern Russia 
ought, then, to be in the temperate belt and have a climate 
like our own country. The map also tells us that the country 
consists of vast plains with only a few mountains. 

From these things we can form an idea as to what the 
chief occupations of the Russians are. In the first place, most 
of them must be farmers. In the second place, they probably 
raise great quantities of wheat, barley, oats, cattle and horses 
on their vast plains. 




A wedding procession in Russia. 



184 New Progressive Geographies 

From this we see that Russia raises the same things that 
we do and there could be little trade in farm products. Russia 
sells her spare wheat and barley to her neighbors and gets 
from them most of the manufactured articles she needs. 

We excel all other nations in the manufacture of farm 
machinery and this we sell to Russia in large quantities. In 
addition to furs we get from Russia a great deal of platinum. 
This metal is now more valuable than gold; Russia has richer 
mines of platinum than any other country. 

HOW IS IT THAT WITH EACH SUCCEEDING YEAR THE 
PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA DEPEND LESS UPON THE 
PRODUCTIONS OF OTHER LANDS? 

1. We are learning more about our wonderful California home: 
We have been a long time learning how many different things 
will grow in our own home land. The many climates, the rich 
soil and the water for irrigation make it possible for us to pro- 
duce almost every kind of plant except those of the hot belt. 

The early Spanish settlers made little use of the rich soil, 
the warm sunshine and the many streams. Neither did many 
of the gold seekers care to try farming as long as they could 
find gold in the beds of creeks. 

But since the railroads have been built and we can send 
our products to distant markets, and since we have learned 
what wonderful things our California soil and climate will 
produce, farming and fruit growing have become the great 
industries. In order to still further enrich our productions 
men are searching through all parts of the world for new 
fruits and grains. 

2. We raise all the fruits, grains, and vegetables of the tem- 
perate belt: In the valleys of the southern part of our state 
it is as warm in summer as it is in the hot or tropic belt. On 
the tops of the highest mountains it is as cold as it is in the 
arctic belt. Between these belts lies the temperate belt. Be- 
cause of the position of the mountains, the direction of the 
winds and the presence of the ocean to the west fruits of the 
temperate belt grow in almost all parts of California. 

Among the productions of the temperate belt are apples, 
pears, peaches, apricots, prunes, barley, rye, corn, wheat, po- 
tatoes and melons. Some of these things do better in the 
warmer valleys and some in the cooler ones. Strange, is it 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 185 

not, that many of our temperate fruits do well in the very hot 
valleys where the sub-tropic fruits are found. 

3. We grow all the fruits of the Sub-tropic belt: By the 
sub-tropic belt we mean a belt between the temperate belt and 
the tropics. The people who first settled California came by 
way of Mexico from far-off Spain. The Spaniards brought 
with them seeds of the fruits which they grew at home and 
that is the way the fruit industry began in our state. They 
found that the valleys here had much the same climate as 
that to which they were accustomed. They built irrigation 
ditches, plowed the land, planted the seeds and soon had thriv- 
ing gardens and orchards. 

Among the sub-tropic fruits which the Spaniards brought 
are the orange, lemon, fig, olive and grape. The market in 
the eastern part of our country is still partly supplied from 
Spain because we do not as yet raise enough fruit in Cali- 
fornia. 

4. We grow some tropical fruits: The dates which you 
commonly see in the market come from Arabia, far away on 
the other side of the world. There are other dates of a better 
quality that you rarely see. These are grown in the oases of 
the Sahara desert. 

Sprouts of the date palm have been obtained from these 
oases, and planted in one of the hottest deserts in southeastern 
California. They have thrived there and are now producing 
as good dates as are found in any part of the world. Does 
it not seem strange that the date, which forms one of the 
chief foods of the Arabs of the desert can be grown here in 
California. 

It may be found possible to grow other tropical fruits in 
our hot valleys. 

5. We raise large quantities of rice: We once imported all 
our rice. Some came from the Southern States, but most of 
it was brought across the Pacific Ocean from China and Japan. 
Rice needs a deep rich soil, hot climate and plenty of water. 
All these things are found in the Great Valley of California. 

A few years ago a little rice was planted as an experi- 
ment to see if it would grow in the Sacramento Valley. It did 
so well that the next year more was planted and now many 
thousands of acres are being grown. Every year land devoted 
to rice becomes greater. We shall soon be able to supply all 
the rice that our country needs. 



186 



New Progressive Geographies 



6. We manufacture sugar from sugar beets: Sugar cane 
grows in a hot moist climate. The valleys of California are 
hot enough but the air is too dry. All the cane sugar that we 
use comes from the Hawaiian Islands. 

We have, however, a climate well suited to the growing 
of sugar beets. They need a light but moist soil and will do 
well either near the coast where it is cool and foggy or in the 
hot valleys behind the coast mountains. 

7. Cotton is becoming an important product: All our cotton 
once came from the Southern States, but now we raise a great 
deal in California. In the far southeastern corner of our state 
is a valley once known as the Colorado desert. It was so dry 
and hot that it was dangerous to cross in the summer and 
many people have perished there. Now great canals lead 
water to this desert and it has become one of the richest parts 
of our state. Cotton growing was tried and the plant did so 
well that many thousands of bales are produced each year. 
Cotton in such large quantities is now being grown in the hot 




California is growing so much rice that we no longer have use for that raised 
in China or Japan. Would it not be strange if with the aid of 
machinery we could raise enough rice to export it to 
those lands where we once bought it? 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 187 

valleys of our own state that we may soon be able to sell to 
our neighbors. 

8. Cattle and sheep raising was one of our earliest industries : 
Stories of early life in our state tell of the great numbers of 
cattle and sheep. After gold was discovered and many thou- 
sands of people had made their homes here the hills and valleys 
were used mostly for pasturing cattle. 

More and more land is being cultivated every year. As 
we fence and plow the fields the wild pastures must become 
smaller. The cattle industry has decreased in importance and 
we now have to import a part of the beef, mutton and pork that 
we use. In order to raise greater numbers of cattle, sheep and 
hogs we must grow more forage such as alfalfa and corn. 
Animals can get more food from a piece of cultivated land than 
from wild pastures. 

9. We raise silk worms and spin silk: Our California cli- 
mate is suited to the growing of the mulberry tree, on the 
leaves of which the silk worm feeds. The mulberry tree is 
also valuable for its fruit. We do not raise many silk worms 
because the people of Southern Europe and Western Asia do 
this work cheaper than we can. Sometime we may be able to 
produce silk cheaply, but now it is better to buy it. 

10. The shallow waters off the California coast form a fine 
fishing ground: 

Look at the map of California and you will find that there 
are quite a number of islands off the southern coast and a 
group of very small ones a few miles outside of San Francisco. 

The water of the ocean is shallow as far out as these 
islands, making a good home for a great variety of fish. Out- 
side of the islands it becomes very deep and contains few food 
fishes. California has, then, a rich fishing ground which 
might supply us many more fish than it does if we only went 
after them. 

11. We have great stores of petroleum: Nature has given 
California almost every mineral she needs except coal. The 
lack of coal made it difficult for many years to carry on manu- 
facturing. 

Now we have discovered vast stores of petroleum which 
is well suited for use as fuel. The petroleum not only supplies 
fuel for engines, but when refined is used for lighting pur- 



188 New Progressive Geographies 

poses. From the crude petroleum we also obtain gasoline and 
grease for lubricating purposes. 

12. We have gold, silver, copper and iron: It was the dis- 
covery of gold that first made California famous. Everybody 
wanted to go to the "land of gold." While seeking this valu- 
able yellow metal the prospectors found veins of other min- 
erals. Among these are silver, copper and lead. Mention 
some of the uses of each of these minerals. 

13. In the deserts are salt, soda, borax and potash: In the 

hollows of the hot and barren deserts in eastern California 
there were once large lakes. In some of them little lakes 
still remain but the most are now dry. How salty and alkaline 
the waters of these lakes must have been, for in their beds we 
find valuable deposits of many salts, among which are common 
salt, soda, borax and potash. Tell an important use of each of 
these substances. 

14. Vast forests cover the mountains: The forests of our 
state are among the finest in all the world. Wherever we find 
high mountains there we may look for forests. What have we 
learned is the reason for this? 

We have been very careless of the forests and have 
allowed them to be wasted by lumbermen and fire. Since they 
are useful in so many ways we should guard them with the 
greatest care. 

15. We have great and fertile valleys which as yet contain 
few homes: The chief wealth of our California home lies in the 
soil. It will not do to be careless of the soil. Each year we 
should return to it in the form of fertilizers the substances 
taken away by the crops. We should also guard the slopes 
against washing by the rains. We may some day dig all the 
minerals out of the rocks, but no matter how much use we 
make of the soil it will always remain fertile if we take care 
of it. 

THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT CALIFORNIA DOES 
NOT SUPPLY. 

We have learned already that there are many fruits found 
in the hot belt that cannot be made to thrive in California. 
We have use for some minerals that our mountains do not con- 
tain. We import from other countries manufactured articles 
which are unlike any we make. The people of each country 



The Home and Its Relation to the World 189 

excel in some particular kind of work. We make certain 
things better than any other people. Certain other things 
we cannot do as well as people living in countries far across 
the ocean. We need their goods and they need ours. This 
leads to trade between us. 

IT IS BEST THAT WE CARRY ON TRADE WITH OTHER 
PEOPLES. 

If we would sell to other people we must buy of them in 
return. By dealing with neighboring countries we become 
better acquainted and are less likely to quarrel. Each learns to 
respect the other through inter-change of products and ideas. 

The more people, living far apart, trade and associate 
with one another the more they come to feel like brothers. 



Ind 



ex 



Africa, 174; people and climate, 174, 175; 
animals, 175 ; products, 175 

Alaska, 166; products, 166, 167; natives, 168 

Amazon River, 138, 139 

Animals, homes of, 8 ; desert, 32 ; on moun- 
tains, 35 ; other lands, 98 

Arctic belt, 116 

Australia, 178; products, 178, 179 

Bagdad, 144 

Belts, sunshine, 114; of heat and cold, 115: 
arctic, 116; temperate, 116; hot, 116; ani- 
mals and plants, 117 

California, size of, 8; climate, 26, 76: coast, 
77, 78, 104, 118; rivers, 77; map, 80; pro- 
ducts of, 91; fruits, 93; advantages for 
trade, 119; how reached, 119; accessibility, 
119 

China, people of, 160, 161 ; products of, 159 

Cities, life of, 55 ; disadvantages, 55 ; com- 
pared with the country, 57 ; food supplies, 
57, 184, 185; water and fuel, 58 

Climate, in valleys, 46 ; on mountains, 47, 79, 
113; of the world, 104, 105, 114; Eastern 
States, 93: arctic, 116; tropical, 116; tem- 
perate, 116. 

Clouds, 19 

Coconuts, home of, 124 

Coffee, 136, 139 

Compass, 64 

Constantinople, 141, 142 

Country, plan of, 65 ; pictures of, 64 ; map 
of, 66 

Country homes, lack of comfort, 57 ; advan- 
tages of, 52-54 

Damascus, 144 

Dates, 16, 145, 150 

Desert, 16, 32: towns, 62, 84, 147; plants and 
animals, 108 

Direction, 63 

Dunes, 39 

Dust whirls, 29 

Earth, shape of, 108-110; movements, 110 

East Indies, 137 

England, 121-123 

Farmers, homes of, 37, 53, 54 

Farming, 25 ; in mountains, 37, 72 

Floods, 31 

Fog, 29, 30 

Forests, 17, 80, 107 

Fresno, 61 

Fruits, 93 ; of other lands, 97, 184, 185 

Gibraltar, 127 

Hawaiian Islands, 165, 166 

Holland, 155; surface of, 155, 156; produc- 
tions, 157 

Homes, 7 ; importance of, 7 ; of plants, ani- 
mals and people, 8 ; kinds of, 9 ; in differ- 
ent parts of California, 9, 83 ; of the mer- 
chant, 12; manufacturer, 12; miner, 13; 
lumberman, 13; stockman, 14; dairyman, 
14; farmer, 15; fruit grower, 15, 184, 185; 
on lowlands, 17; in mountains, 18; require- 
ments of, 19, 24 ; in desert, 33 ; in country, 
51; how reached, 84, 85; materials of, 
99, 100 

India, 130; products of, 130-132; people of, 
132; temples, 134, 135 

Irrigation, 32, 50 

Islands, 39; of Pacific, 124, 125 

Italy, 129; products of, 130 

Japan, 162; temples, 162, 163; people, 164,165 

Java, 136 

Lime, 23 



Los Angeles, 60 

Lowlands, 17 

Lumbermen, 37 

Maps, 66; as a guide, 66-73 

Models, 67-75-80 

Moon, 111 

Mountains, soils, 37; value, 46; forests, 47; 
rain', 46; climate, 46, 47, 113; products, 46, 
106; coast, 73, 78; plants and animals, 35; 
sawmills, 48; streams, 49 ; homes, 51 ; camp 
grounds, 51 

Norway, 175; products of, 176, 177 

Oasis, 147, 148 

Ocean, 40; life of, 42; travel, 90 

Olive oil, 126 

Panama Canal, 120 

Pekin, 161 

Philippine Islands, 169; people, 170; products, 
171-173 

Plans, 65, 67 

Plants, home of, 8 ; of desert, 32 ; on moun- 
tains, 35 ; other lands, 97 

Rain, 19, 23, 26; lack of in summer, 27; on 
mountains, 46; signs of, 27, 29,32; on hill- 
sides, 30 

Rainwater, 22 

Rivers, uses of, 43 ; behavior of, 44, 45 ; study 
of, 45 ; as highways, 87 

Railroads, 85, 87, 88, 92, 182 

Roads, in valleys, 43, 64, 81, 84, 87, 88 

Russia, 1S2; products of, 182, 183 

Sacramento, 61 

Sahara Desert, 145-149 

Salt, 23, 41 

San Francisco, 59, 63, 120 ; wharves, 124 

Sand, 39 

Sand beaches, 39 

Seashore, 38, 39 

Seasons, 26 

Soda, 23 

South America, 136 

Soil, 18; definition, 35; how made, 36; use 
of, 36; in valleys, 36 

Spain, 127; climate, 128; products, 128 

Spanish padres, 127 

Springs, 22 

Storms, 27 ; movements of, 29 

Streams, 30, 31, 49, 50 

Stockman, home of, 14, 37 

Suez Canal, 140, 145 

Summer, 27 

Sun, 33, 111, 112 

Sunshine, little of, 114 

Sweden, 175 

Switzerland, 152; occupations of people, 153; 
productions, 154, 155 

Valley, soils of, 36; water in, 44; origin of, 
45, 46 ; climate, 46, 80 ; homes in, 84 

Village, situations, 62 

Tides, 41 

Trade, 120 

Tule fog, 30 

Turkey, 145 ; people of, 142, 143 

Water, source of, 19; storage, 20, 24; lack of, 
25; for irrigation, 50; as a highway, 25, 34 

Waterfalls, 49 

Waterpower, 49 

Water routes to England, 121, 122, 123 

Weather, 79 

Winds, 39 

World, shape of, 109; size, 96; countries and 
peoples of, 99, 100, 101, 102 



Illustrations 



Looking out through the Golden Gate Frontispiece 

Scene from a hill-top 9 

Homes of fishermen 10 

A valley the dairymen love 11 

A mine in the mountains 13 

Where the herder pastures his flocks 14 

The home of the grain farmer 15 

A date palm 17 

The cabin of a mountaineer 18 

A storm over the Golden Gate 20 

Roots holding the soil in a creek bank 21 

A dashing stream shaded by trees 22 

The home of an old-fashioned farmer 24 

A steamer on the Sacramento River 26 

Garden irrigation 28 

A blanket of ocean fog 29 

A river in flood 31 

Desert vegetation 32 

Death Valley 34 

A mountain top 35 

Children on the beach at low tide 38 

A rocky island 40 

A sea cave 41 

Fishermen hauling their nets - 42 

A waterfall 43 

A river canyon 44 

The quiet river 45 

Village in a mountain valley 47 

A sawmill in the mountains 48 

A summer ranch in the mountains 49 

Miners at work underground : 50 

A beautiful country home 52 

Women of Cairo taking a ride 53 

Wall of an ancient city 54 

Dam built across a river 55 

Women at a fountain for water... 56 

A city park 59 

Scene in a small city 60 

Village in a desert 62 

Looking down upon a rich valley 65 

Work of rivulets upon a hill-side 68 

Relief map of California 70 

A flat oak-dotted valley 74 

A beautiful valley 76 

An old Spanish home in California 83 

Stage coach on a mountain grade 85 

A mountain trail 86 

A railroad tunnel 88 

Mount Shasta from Strawberry Valley 90 

In a Sierra Nevada forest 92 

A Malay village 95 

Climbing a mountain glacier 97 

A banana grove in Central America 98 

The Golden Pagoda at Rangoon 101) 

Gateway of a Chinese temple 101 



Laplanders in their fur clothing 102 

A native woman and child of India 103 

A negro village in Africa 104 

A negro hut in Africa 105 

An old lady of Brittany spinning 106 

Olive trees in Greece 107 

A wayside restaurant in India 112 

A home in North Germany 113 

A dog team hauling a sled 115 

Elephants piling logs 1 17 

A farm scene in England 118 

London Bridge 121 

Village in a coconut grove , 122 

Beach and coconut palms on island of Ceylon 123 

Milking goats in Spain 126 

Spanish peasant family with a donkey 127 

Making macaroni, Italy 128 

The children of Sunny Italy 129 

A wayside shop in India 130 

An Irish country home 131 

A cart in India drawn by water buffalos 132 

Egyptians going home from work in the fields 133 

A temple in Calcutta, India 134 

Tapping a rubber tree in Java 135 

A coffee plantation in Brazil 136 

Llamas in a city in the Andes Mountains, South America 137 

A market scene in a South American city 138 

Scene in a Turkish city 140 

Jungle along the Amazon River, South America 141 

Indians in a canoe on the Amazon River 142 

Porters in Constantinople 143 

An Armenian family moving '. 144 

Girls weaving a rug in Turkey 145 

An oasis scene 146 

A mountain pasture in Switzerland 147 

An Arab school 148 

Sand dunes of the Sahara Desert 149 

Wheelbarrows in Southern China 151 

A Chinaman carrying tea-pots to market 152 

A street scene in Mukden, Northern China 153 

The Midnight Sun 154 

A dog-cart in Holland 156 

A camel train outside the wall of Pekin 158 

Japanese planting rice 160 

A Pekin cart 161 

Picking tea leaves 163 

A Fijian canoe 164 

Filipinos carrying milk into Manila 168 

A home in a tree-top, Philippine Islands 170 

Weaving Panama hats 171 

A mock fight in the Philippine Islands 172 

An African village in a banana grove 173 

An African lion 174 

An African zebra 176 

A fishing village, Norway ■ 177 

An African hut 178 

An ox used as a pack animal 179 

A plantation scene in Central America 180 

A Mexican ox-cart 181 

A Russian country scene 182 

A Russian wedding 183 

A California rice field 186 



